The Girl with the Emerald Eyes
by Cassiopia
Summary: ***CHAPTER 18 UP! FIC FINISHED***James and Lily were the best of friends, but when Lily moved away they never saw each other again. They re-meet at hogwarts, but in 7 year they get a little closer... R&R please!
1. Goodbye

FROM THE BEGINNING  
  
CHAPTER ONE-ARE WE EVER NOT? / GOODBYE  
  
Lilian Evans and James Potter sat outside Lily's house in suburban Muggle-land, England. Neither knew of the other's magical powers, and frankly, neither cared. The two six-year-olds lounging in the dewy, lush grass were oblivious to the world around them. They didn't care about a bad wizard who was slowly gaining power in the dark recesses of the wizarding world. They could have cared less that Lily's parents were suffering great financial problems. All that the two were concerned about right now, really, was the hole of sloshy, brown mud from which they were digging up worms.  
  
"Lil, hand me the can," James asked, his tiny hands covered in slimy worm guts and dirt. Lily grinned at the fat, writhing worm that James was holding up as she handed him the can. Ooh, they were gonna get Petunia GOOD tonight!  
  
"How many is that?" Lily asked, wiping a strand of her wavy auburn hair from her face. Brown streaks were left slashed across her forehead, but Lily wasn't the type of girl who cared. James pushed the worms around, counting. He and Lily were both very bright children, though they preferred to have fun over going to school. First grade was a waste of time, in their opinion. Why study stuff you already knew when you could be plotting against Lily's older sister?  
  
"We have fourty-seven," James informed his best friend. He grinned at her, and she grinned back. He ignored the fact that this was probably the last time he and Lily would be playing together in her front yard. They were getting older, Lily's money was getting lesser. In just two days she was moving clear across England, too far to travel to play with James. Lily knew this, too, though she also didn't mention it. Better to focus on the present, while she and James were having such fun!  
  
"More!" Lily exclaimed, giggling. James laughed too, his messy black hair sticking up at all angles. Lily often teased him about his hair, saying he looked like a black porcupine. James would laugh and call her names right back. Their mothers would tut-tut at them and scold, "Don't call each other names, you're best friends!" But James and Lily would just sit and laugh, they knew the other was teasing.  
  
Lily smiled proudly as she held up a long, skinny worm that wriggled and writhed about. "Fourty-eight," she said joyfully, and dropped it in the can. She and James dug their little hands into the hole, pulling out worm after worm. When James informed Lily that they had seventy-five she shrieked with such happiness that the two of them collapsed into fits of giggles. It was almost fifteen minutes before they got up and kept digging. The sun was past above them, now, heading west to sleep for the night. The worms were getting scarce, and they were about to give up when-  
  
"Look!" James pulled something out of the ground. It was a smooth, shiny-green stone. The sunlight glittered through it and sent little sparkles of green onto the muddy hole in between them.  
  
"Ooh!" Lily breathed, looking at the stone sparkling away in the sun. "It's beautiful!"  
  
James studied the stone carefully. His six-year-old mind, smart as he was, was too undeveloped to understand that this stone was an emerald. It had been dropped years and years before even James and Lily's parents were born and had been hiding in the earth ever since, waiting to be dug up.  
  
Even if James didn't know this, he knew one thing about the stone. It was as deep and sparkling green as Lily's eyes. James had always liked Lily's eyes. They could dance and laugh when she was happy, but when she was angry the spark in them would grow until her eyes seemed to be on fire with little lights. When Lily was sad it was just the opposite; her tears would put out the flame and her eyes would grow distant-looking and glossy.  
  
Depending on the way you turned this emerald it matched exactly every emotion that Lily's eyes could show. James looked up at Lily's eyes now and noticed that they were wide and awestruck, reflecting bits of sunlight as the stone was doing. Lily was looking longingly at the stone.  
  
In two seconds James's mind was made up.  
  
"Here," he said, holding out his hand. "You have it."  
  
For a moment Lily just stared at James's outstretched palm, the stone dazzlingly bright.  
  
"Really?" Lily breathed, slowly taking the stone and turning it about, looking at it from all angles.  
  
"Yeah," James said, grinning at how happy Lily was. "To remember me by."  
  
Lily looked up at James sadly, and when he realized what he'd just said he grew sober, too.  
  
"I don't want to leave!" Lily said desperately, but she kept her voice low. If Mama heard her whining about moving she was dead meat.  
  
"I don't want you to either, Lil," James said, getting up and moving next to his friend. He put an arm around her and hugged, saying, "But we'll see each other again. We just have to! You can't be as good friends as we are and not ever talk again."  
  
Lily sniffed back her tears and looked up at James's brown and honey- coloured eyes.  
  
"Will you write to me?"  
  
"You bet," James said, smiling and wiping a lone tear from the corner of Lily's eye. "But this part comes tonight, after dinner. Right now you and I have a little trick to play on Petunia. Come on!"  
  
James grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her up. Lily pocketed the stone and grabbed the can of worms, racing after James.  
  
Petunia Evans was in her room at the top of the attic stairs reading a book for English class. Though Petunia was only a fourth grader, she held herself high above Lily and James. They were just silly little kids to her. Right now they were probably bouncing a ball back and forth to each other, or something. Petunia rolled her eyes at this thought. // Maybe I'll go see, though. This book is sooo boring. //  
  
Petunia climbed off her bed and hurried down the stairs, thoughts on messing with Lily and James fixed in her mind.  
  
But as the curly-haired fourth grader scampered down from her attic room, Lily and James snuck into the bathroom, which was next to the stairway. When Petunia disappeared down the second staircase to the kitchen, Lily and James scurried up to Petunias room, grinning and clutching the jar of worms close to them.  
  
"All right, we only have a little time," James whispered urgently. It was custom that Lily would think up the pranks and James would be the boss when carrying them out. It'd been that way since day one, when Lily and James had first pulled a prank on Petunia.  
  
That was back in pre-school, where James and Lily had met. One night while James was over playing and Petunia baby-sitting them, Lily had created the idea to pour some pepper into the milkshake Petunia was making. They waited for the perfect moment, James whispered, "Now! GO!"  
  
Just three years later they were pulling their final prank.  
  
"Okay, Lil, you put half under the blankets, I'll put the rest in her slippers for later tonight."  
  
"Got it," Lily said happily, and she pulled half the worms out of the can and dashed to Petunia's bedside. Throwing back the fluffy pink comforter, she spread the worms strategically. A few were still wriggling, though some had spent a bit too much time in the can. Lily felt bad for the worms, but her pity was interrupted as James yelled, "She's coming!"  
  
The two of them abandoned the can and ran down the stairs. They'd just barely made it into the bathroom when Petunia passed the door, muttering something about 'crazy little kids.'  
  
Lily let out a sigh of relief, but James tugged her hand.  
  
"We gotta get out, she's gonna find them in a second!"  
  
So they hauled butt again until they were safely out by Lily's garage.  
  
"When do you think she's gonna find em?"  
  
"I think probably. now."  
  
"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH!" Petunia's high-pitched scream came floating down from the attic window. The sound of Lily's parents thumping up the stairs were dull, but no one in the neighborhood missed, "WORMS! IN MY BED! THOSE STUPID LITTLE KIDS DID THIS!"  
  
With a burst of uncontrollable laughter the two six-year-olds were on the ground, tears streaming from their eyes and gasping for breath.  
  
That's exactly how Lily's mother found them shortly thereafter, saying, "You two are in such deep trouble!"  
  
"Are we ever not?" Lily whispered to James, and he grinned.  
  
********  
  
"Lily! James! Come on, we have to go meet the Potters for dinner!" Lily's mother clicked her foot impatiently against the wooden floor as the two children scampered down the stairs. The dirt had been washed from their faces and hands, and they looked much more presentable.  
  
But Mrs. Evans sighed looking at how clean they were. It hadn't been an easy feat. The two little ones had struck up a water fight and splashed themselves, the kitchen, and Mrs. Evans with soapy water until there wasn't a dry patch left in the room.  
  
"Let's go! Dad and Pet are already in the car," Lily's mom said, shooing the two friends out the door.  
  
They were meeting the Potters for a farewell dinner in London. The two families had grown close over the years, going out to dinners and spending evenings in London. Usually the Potters had to pay, the Evanses didn't have very much money. But they didn't mind much, it was a comforting routine for them to pay for a night out with the Evanses. Tonight's schedule was no different, but it would be the last time the Potters and Evanses went out together.  
  
Dinner was a sober affair, the sadness of the Evanses leaving dampening the usual high-spirits that ran at their dinner tables. Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Evans talked softly about this and that, market prices and such. Mr. Potter and Mr. Evans discussed politics. Only Petunia seemed glad to be leaving, for once they were away from those dreaded Potters then perhaps she'd be able to get some peace. And not find worms in her bed. Shivering at the thought, Petunia stuck her fork back into her fish and munched away.  
  
Lily and James whispered to each other at their end of the table, giggling as they remembered the "old times." Lily fought the urge to laugh hysterically as James reminded her of the time the two of them had left ice in Mr. Evans's socks. It had taken the poor man nearly an hour to figure out why his feet were so cold.  
  
That reminded Lily of the time last winter when they'd put all of Lily's mother's bras in plastic bags and stuck them under the snow. They got a big scolding for that one, but it was well-repaid by the fact that Mrs. Evans had complained of her bras being cold for weeks after that.  
  
The night went quickly and ended too soon, just as all nights will when you want them to last forever. In no time the Potters were on their feet and hugging the Evanses, saying, "Goodbye! Good luck, we'll write! Maybe we'll catch up with you sometime!"  
  
But they knew they would never see each other again.  
  
Lily stifled a sob as James gave her a last hug and, overcome with emotion, she kissed him on the cheek. James blushed and wiped at his cheek jokingly, whispering, "Eww, cooties!" But Lily didn't care, and neither did James, really.  
  
"Come on, Lily, it's time to go," Mrs. Evans said gently to her little girl. A few tears slid slowly down Lily's cheek, leaving a bright red trail behind them. James wanted to cry, but it wasn't manly to do so. Not in a classy restaurant in the middle of London, anyway.  
  
As the Evanses walked away, Lily looked back and gave James a sad wave. He waved back, and kept waving after Lily was out of sight.  
  
Mrs. Potter sighed and Mr. Potter cleared his throat.  
  
"Well, there goes a fine Muggle family," Mr. Potter said, putting and arm around Mrs. Potter. James was still staring at the door that the Evanses had disappeared behind, and didn't notice his mother dab her eyes with a tissue.  
  
"Come now, let's take care of this bill and go on home," Mr. Potter said, and James followed his parents slowly back to their table. He stared silently at Lily's empty chair while Mr. Potter paid, thinking, //Lily's gone. Really gone. We're never gonna see each other again.// It was odd to think that just this morning they'd been playing together in Lily's front yard, acting as if it was any old day.  
  
"All right, James, time to go," Mrs. Potter said, and James followed his parents out the door. They stood on the porch and tried to hail a taxi while James looked up and down the street; maybe he could catch a last glimpse of Lily. But she was already driving home, head buried in her arms and tears pouring out of her eyes. Her mother had turned around from the front passenger seat and tried to comfort her daughter, but it didn't help much. Lily missed James as much as he missed her.  
  
James looked down and kicked a few pebbles with his feet while Mr. Potter tried to get a cab to stop. In the streetlight glow of Muggle London, James noticed one of the stones shining softly. He picked it up as Mr. Potter said helped Mrs. Potter into a cab, and noticed with a great tug of his heart what stone it was. He let out a small sob.  
  
Lily's emerald lay in his open palm, though it's glittering was very dim. James thought it looked like Lily's eyes did when she was crying.  
  
And at this thought, James couldn't help it. He cried, too.  
  
****************  
  
A/N: So what do you all think???? I know its been done before, but if everyone had a perfectly unique story there would be maybe a fourth as many HP stories as there are now! Its kinda sad now but its so happy and fluffy later Ill probably get flames for the sappiness! (don't get any ideas, im just trying to right a mostly non-depressing L & J story. Whats this stuff about them hating each other? Its nuts!) So review review if you like, and if u don't u can go read a more dramatic fic and leave mine alone!! ( Thanks you for everyone who reads whether u review or not (but ill like u better if u review! J/p). Ciao! Luv, Cassi~ 


	2. After All This Time

TWO-AFTER ALL THIS TIME.  
  
Lily Evans was standing in between the barriers to platforms nine and ten and studying the bricks intently. Little frogs were hopping about in her stomach, but her mind was focused sharply.  
  
Just last week she'd been to Diagon Alley, a wizarding street full of shops for everything a witch would need and then some. A kind young man at the Leaky Cauldron had told her how to get onto platform nine and three- quarters. They'd sounded strange, though she'd believed him. But now that she was facing the wall, she was second-guessing his instructions. Maybe he'd been joking with her.  
  
"Hogwarts?" Lily started as a young boy with dark hair and a mischievous look about him came up behind her, toting a trolley behind him. A big, fluffy owl was hooting madly from a cage that was balancing atop a trunk, and a lot of people- er, Muggles - were staring.  
  
"Yeah," Lily said somewhat gratefully, though she couldn't help but stare at the owl and silently will it to be quiet. "How do we get on the platform?"  
  
"My brother said you run at it," the boy replied, looking the wall across from them up and down. "But I think he was pulling my leg."  
  
"No, that's what someone told me, too," Lily said, looking back at the wall. "What do you say we try it?"  
  
"Worth a shot," the boy said, eyes glinting as he rubbed his hands together. Lily grinned a little.  
  
"On three, then," Lily said. "One, two, three!"  
  
She and he dark haired boy rushed at the barrier. Lily shut her eyes tightly, expecting to hit at any moment.  
  
But she was still running. Opening her eyes, Lily stifled a small gasp. A large, bright red steam engine stood before her, steam billowing into the air like a cloud. Children and teens were running about, hugging old friends and scowling as their mothers kissed them goodbye. A few tiny toddlers looked on in awe as their older brothers and sisters went off to school.  
  
"Nifty," the boy said in a really humorous way, and Lily laughed as he came up beside her. His owl had stopped hooting and was now looking about sharply, as though expecting to be ambushed. Lily laughed again as she saw this, and the boy turned to see what she was looking at.  
  
"Oh, that's Eoiffe," he said, making a face. "My sister named her and she won't answer to anything else. She's nuts."  
  
"Your owl or your sister?" Lily couldn't help but ask mischievously, and the boy laughed at her joke.  
  
"Both," the boy said, looking at Lily. "My name's Sirius, by the way. Sirius Black. What's yours?"  
  
But Sirius never found out, because at that exact moment a loud whistle issued from the engine and the students of Hogwarts went hurrying to the train.  
  
"See you!" Lily managed to yell to Sirius as she was jostled away. An older boy in black robes and a scarlet-and-gold tie lifted Lily's trunk into the train, asking, "First year?"  
  
"Yes," Lily responded. "What year are you in?"  
  
"Fifth. I'm in Gryffindor, it's the best house. Hope to see you in it."  
  
"Maybe, bye!" Lily said as she followed a crowd of younger students into the train. Lily walked to the end of the car before finding an empty compartment. She sat down thankfully, glad to be off her feet. From the window she watched the remaining students rush to the train, yelling goodbye to their families.  
  
"Mind if I sit here?" Lily was so busy watching the goings-on that she didn't notice a small blond girl open the door to her compartment.  
  
"Not at all," Lily said, waving her hand about. "I'm all by my lonesome and need some company anyhow. What's your name?"  
  
"Elisabeth," the girl answered, grinned. "And yours?"  
  
"Lily," Lily answered. "Are you a first year?"  
  
"Yes, are you?"  
  
"Yeah, and I'm so nervous! I had no idea about this witch stuff until I got my Hogwarts letter."  
  
"Really?" Elizabeth seemed amazed, as though surprised to meet a Muggle-born. It was fascinating. "My whole family's wizards, I was counting on getting it. Unless I was a squib!" Elisabeth laughed slightly, but Lily looked confused.  
  
"What's a squib?" Lily asked earnestly. Elizabeth grinned, "Well, it's not funny, really. But my dad's in the ministry and it'd be odd indeed if I was one. A squib is a Muggle born to wizards."  
  
"Oh," Lily said, then, "What's a ministry?" Elisabeth laughed, and Lily couldn't help but join in. Elisabeth was easy to talk to and very kind.  
  
The two of them sat in the compartment and traded information about each others lives, what house they wanted to be in, what their families were like, and more. About five minutes after the train started moving a pair of twins came up to the compartment door and knocked. Lily waved them in.  
  
"Hi!" Lily and Elisabeth greeted them, and the twins smiled back.  
  
"Hey," one of them said. "I'm Julia."  
  
"And I'm Margaret," the other cut in.  
  
"Can we sit with you?" Julia asked.  
  
"Sure," Lily answered. "This is Elisabeth, and I'm Lily."  
  
"Are you first years?" Margaret (who everyone called Maggie, as she soon explained to the others) asked hopefully. Lily laughed.  
  
"Yup, are you?" Elisabeth responded cheerfully. The twins nodded and went off on a talking spree, cutting each other off so quickly that it was hard to keep track of who said what.  
  
"We're not usually like this," Maggie informed the compartment. "But we're so nervous!"  
  
"Yes, our sisters told us horror stories all last night about Hogwarts," Julia said quickly.  
  
"But its not bad, really," Elisabeth said. "At least, that's what my brother Nick told me."  
  
"I'm so excited!" Lily exclaimed, and the others nodded in agreement. Soon they were off, chattering about this and that. Maggie and Julia wanted to be in Gryffindor, like Lily. But Elisabeth wanted to be in Ravenclaw.  
  
"I think I'd fit better there," Elisabeth said. "None of this bravery stuff for me."  
  
They talked and laughed the day away, and it seemed like in no time at all they were pulling in to the station at Hogsmede.  
  
"Hey, look across the corridor," Maggie muttered as the girls filed out. "There are some really hot guys in there!"  
  
Lily peered in, but all she saw was a pudgy, beady eyes boy laughing as three others with their backs turned wrestled with each other.  
  
"That one?" Elisabeth asked, turning her nose up a bit. "He looks like a rat!" The others giggled, and the four new friends hurried off the train towards a big, bearded man who was yelling, "Firs' years this way!"  
  
"That's Hagrid," Julia whispered. "Our sister told me about him!"  
  
"He looks nice," Elisabeth noted as the followed the half-giant towards a foamy, writhing lake. Lily loved water, and when she saw little boats with lanterns attached floating by the shore she smiled happily. Lily had a feeling she was going to love Hogwarts.  
  
"Two ter a boat, don' push now," Hagrid said, his raspy voice. Elisabeth and Lily clutched each others arms and hurried to a boat together. They'd met each other first, so Lily felt more comfortable with Elisabeth. Julia and Maggie, who were used to doing things together, jumped into the boat next to their new friends.  
  
"All righ', ter the castle!" Hagrid roared, and the boats headed off into the blackness.  
  
  
  
Just a few boats away from Lily and her friends James and Sirius were causing trouble. They'd met at Diagon alley a few weeks before and had instantly become friends.  
  
"Nervous?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No way," James said. "I've been looking forward to this for years."  
  
"Me too. And the girls, oh man!" Sirius said, and the two of them laughed. "I met a hot one on the way in, but I didn't catch her name."  
  
"Too bad," James said sadly. "You could have introduced us."  
  
"Like hell! It's every man for himself," Sirius responded.  
  
"Then maybe I won't mention that compartment full of them that was sitting across from us," James said slyly, then turned away from Sirius.  
  
"Wait, what? And you didn't tell me?"  
  
"Hey, every man for himself!" James exclaimed, and the two of them laughed at their own immaturity.  
  
  
  
The castle was a sight to see, even for the full-blooded children who'd known about Hogwarts their whole life. It's great towers and windows loomed ahead of the tiny boats, lanterns glowing in the windows and sending huge squares of dancing yellow light onto the lashing waves.  
  
Inside the castle was an even more spectacular site to see. The pictures and paintings, each grander than the last, moved as though they were giant T.V. screens. A row of suits of armor clanked away as they marched off down the hall. And in the air above the doorway a little green man with pointed ears was pulling girls' hair as they walked by.  
  
"Peeves!" a sharp voice rang out. The speechless first years turned to face a strict looking woman whose hair was pulled up into a tight bun. The green man blew a raspberry and raced off down a corridor, cackling, "I'll be back to get you, ickle firsties!" The woman shook her head and turned to the students, looking over them supiriorly.  
  
"I am professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. Welcome to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.  
  
"In a few moments I will lead you into the great hall. You will be sorted into one of four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. You will be in that house all seven years at Hogwarts. Now come, we can't keep the feast waiting."  
  
"Yes, food! I'm starved," the little chubby boy, Peter, whispered to Sirius, James, and their other friend Remus.  
  
"You would be," Sirius said under his breath, and James sniggered.  
  
McGonagall opened the doors behind her and everyone oohed- and ahh- ed. The room was brightly lit by thousands of candles floating under a ceiling enchanted to look like the stars outside. A comet streaked across the sky as the first years trickled in, heads snapping about. They took in the sights of the tables and the black-robed students sitting at them. A man with a long white beard sat in the middle of a table at the head of the room. His clear blue eyes twinkled merrily, and James could almost swear he'd seen someone else's eyes that active once, but he couldn't remember where.  
  
McGonagall had stopped in front of this old man and a bit to the side, hands clasped as she waited for the room to quiet.  
  
"When I call your name," Professor McGonagall stated, "you will step up to the stool, place the sorting hat on your head, and wait to be sorted into your houses. But first."  
  
Suddenly, the sorting hat moved. Several first years jumped, but the rest of the great hall leaned forward eagerly, awaiting the song of the year.  
  
Welcome, Hogwarts students  
  
A new year we begin  
  
To learn a lot of magick And catch up with old friends.  
  
As students here will tell you This school has seen a lot Witches and Wizard's who've done well And others who have not.  
  
It all began those years ago When four Wizards had a thought To produce some better wizards They would have to be taught.  
  
So together they created this School, fine and true And each built their own houses And taught them all they knew.  
  
Perhaps you'll be in Gryffindor Where stand the brave and bright The Gryffinfors fight long and hard To do what they feel is right.  
  
Or maybe you're a Hufflepuff They're a hardworking lot They can solve difficult things That other witches can not.  
  
Rather, You might be Ravenclaw Where cleverness beats all They may be lazy at certain times But can outsmart almost all.  
  
Slytherin is not as bad As other witches say Here lies those with ambition strong, who fight to get their way.  
  
As years go by and I grow warn I continue to sing for you For great and mighty Hogwarts Brave and strong and true.  
  
The sorting hat fell silent, and the room erupted into applause. Then McGonagall began the sorting.  
  
"Albiot, Marissa!" James stared around the hall boredly as names were being called. Sirius was whispering with Remus next to him, a devilish grin on his face. In front of them McGonagall was calling out names.  
  
"Oy, Sirius," James said a moment later, nudging his friend. "There's those girls who were across the corridor from us!"  
  
Sirius whipped around and saw a pair of twins talking to two girls whose backs were turned. But he recognized one of the girls' hair.  
  
"James, that's the one I saw before!" Sirius hissed. "The one with the red hair."  
  
"So go talk to h-"  
  
"BLACK, Sirius," McGonagall said impatiently, looking around. She'd called this boy's name twice already, and she still had 139 other names to read.  
  
"Sorry, Professor, I was busy marveling at your beauty. Didn't hear my name," Sirius called out. A few people in the hall chuckled, and the old man behind McGonagall smiled slightly. Professor McGonagall didn't find it funny, though, and she frowned at Sirius as he placed the hat on his head.  
  
"Oh your going to be trouble, I can see that," the sorting had whispered into Sirius's head. "But your heart's in the right place, so Slytherin won't do. And you're a good, hard worker, I see. So, better be GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
Sirius grinned at his friends and slipped over to the table on the far right where the students were clapping loudest.  
  
"He won't be grinning so much when he sees us over there, too," Remus said to James. The laughed and James agreed. He and Remus looked about and made comments to each other about the room, which girls were good looking, and whom they thought was on the Quidditch team. They were so involved in their conversation that neither heard when McGonagall shouted, "Evans, Lily!"  
  
Lily stepped up and sat down at the stool. She was nervous; already Elisabeth, Maggie, and Julia had been put in Gryffindor, along with that Sirius fellow she'd met earlier. She just had to get into that house.  
  
"Oh, you're an easy one," the hat said to Lily. "Lot's of spunk, not afraid to do things yourself. You're definitely in GRYFFINDOR!" Lily smiled happily as she took the hat off and raced to join her cheering friends.  
  
"So are you that upset your in Gryffindor, now that we're all together?" Julia asked Elisabeth as they waited for the sorting to end.  
  
"No," Elisabeth said, grinning. "I'm really glad, actually. I dunno what I was thinking, wanting to be in Ravenclaw."  
  
"Oh well, you're here now!" Maggie said cheerfully.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled out, and the girls turned to see who was joining them.  
  
"Hey, he's one of those hot blokes in the compartment across from us," Maggie whispered.  
  
They watched as Remus walked over to join Sirius.  
  
"Oy, I know one of them," Lily said to her friends. "His name's Sirius. Shall we go talk to them?"  
  
"You better believe it." The four girls scooted down the table a bit and Lily said, "Hey Sirius."  
  
"Hey," Sirius said. "Congrats on the house, nice choice." Lily smiled.  
  
"You too. I never did tell you my name before. I'm Lily, and this is Maggie, Julia, and Elisabeth."  
  
"Hello," the girls chorused. Sirius grinned at them, Maggie in particular, and said, "Hey."  
  
Meanwhile the line of first years was growing shorter and shorter. James waited patiently for his name to be called, though by the time Peter went off to join Gryffindor James had had enough waiting.  
  
"Potter, James!"  
  
Lily's spun to face the front of the room, breath lost. Had she heard that right?  
  
A boy with messy black hair that stood up at every angle approached the hat and placed it on his head. Lily would know that porcupine hair anywhere, though it had been five years since she'd seen it.  
  
"What's wrong, Lily?" Elisabeth asked. Lily reluctantly tore her eyes away and faced Elisabeth, saying, "I know that boy! He was my best friend a long time ago, we used to play at each others houses all the time."  
  
"Who is he?" Elisabeth asked. Lily was so busy trying to answer Elisabeth's questions that she missed what the hat yelled when James was sorted. As she turned to look at the stool, she saw he was gone.  
  
Staring sadly at the stool, Lily thought about what had just happened. Her best friend, her very best one from so long ago had been right there, and now she didn't know where he'd gone off to.  
  
Sirius tapped Lily on the shoulder, and she turned slowly around.  
  
"Lily, I want you to meet somebody," Sirius said, pointing at a black haired boy who'd walked around the Hufflepuff table, where he'd been hidden from Lily's view.  
  
"This is-"  
  
"JAMES!" Lily scrambled out of her chair ran to greet James, who looked bewildered. But when he saw the sparkling green eyes-  
  
"Lily? Lily EVANS?" James's heart skipped about five beats and he hugged Lily just as tightly as she hugged him.  
  
"How are you? I haven't seen you in so long, I didn't know you were magical!"  
  
"I didn't know YOU were, and wait a second, let's sit down, people are looking," James said happily and loudly. It was true, a few people at the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables were craning their necks to see who'd yelled.  
  
"Well, I guess you already know each other," Sirius said.  
  
"Yeah, we used to be best friends, like a long time ago," Lily said, sitting down next to James.  
  
"But Lily moved and we never saw each other again." James grinned at his long lost friend and said, "Do you remember that last joke we played on Petunia?"  
  
"With the worms!" Lily exclaimed, laughing. "Yes, I remember! She's always pulled the covers back and looked before she's climbed into bed since then!"  
  
The two of them laughed happily as the others looked on, slightly confused.  
  
"Oh, isn't it touching!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arms around Remus. Remus, playing along said, "Oh! It's been SO long!"  
  
"Shut it, you too," James said. Nothing could spoil this for him, he'd been hoping for this day for nearly five years. He'd almost given up, too.  
  
The sorting ended, and the old man in the middle of the table stood and said, "I don't wish to keep you from food, as you must be hungry. So, TUCK IN!"  
  
The golden platters and pitchers that sat in the middle of the tables were instantly filled with food enough to feed all of England. There were piles of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, steak, broccoli, and a thousand other things.  
  
All throughout dinner James and Lily caught up with each other, ignoring Sirius who kept sighing at the sight of them.  
  
When dinner was over James and Lily walked up to the common room together, following a bossy prefect who kept snapping, "This way, keep up!"  
  
"I missed you soo much, James!" Lily exclaimed, eyes sparkling at her old friend.  
  
"I missed you, too, Lil," James said. "It was so long! But now it seems like just yesterday that we saw each other."  
  
"I know," Lily said. "I cried for weeks after we moved, and I can't look at a worm without thinking of you."  
  
James grinned. He was so content and happy to be reunited with his friend that nothing could have spoiled his mood. He'd missed Lily so much, and every time he'd played a prank in the first year after she left he'd get misty eyed. And now that he'd almost given up hope, she was back.  
  
And he was definitely not letting her get away again.  
  
******  
  
a/n: wow 8 pages, longlong. Anywho, sorry their reunited-ness was sorta short, Im soooo tired but I wanted to put this chapter up with the story. So check back soon, it may be stretch out some more. (this means no flames on the lack of detaiL!) next chapter skips ahead to their seventh year, when Lily and James start to fall in love with each other. Theres a ball, theres some hogsmede mischief, theres some quidditch games. you just gotta read! Check soon, until then, REVIEW! Ciao! Luv, Cassi~ 


	3. All's Fair In Love And War Unless You're...

THREE: ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR- UNLESS YOU'RE SIRIUS BLACK  
  
"Who in the world would be dumb enough to make YOU head boy?"  
  
"Oh, shut it, you," James said good-naturedly to his best friend, Sirius. The two of them were walking down Diagon Alley with their two other friends Remus and Peter. It was just 9:30 in the morning, but already the Alley was brimming with life. Students called out to each other as they shopped for school supplies, and the crowd in front of the broom store was so tightly packed that even the Marauders dared not try to push their way through. Above the street the sun shone brightly, cutting its way sharply through the clear blue sky.  
  
"Oy, no," Sirius groaned a moment later as they passed Flourish and Blots, "Not today!"  
  
"What?" Peter asked dumbly, but the others had already caught on.  
  
"Honestly, Sirius, you'd think you'd give the girls a bit more credit," Remus scolded, though he didn't move when Sirius hid behind him. "Maggie's not going to become an ax murderer and chop your head off just because you dumped her."  
  
"You don't understand women," Sirius moaned, though he really didn't understand them, either. "She's probably in there plotting to.to."  
  
"Oh, come on," James said, tugging Sirius by the arm. "We've known them for seven years, they're not going to turn on you now, Sirius. And I want to talk to Lily, I haven't seen her since July."  
  
Peter coughed loudly, a cough that sounded oddly like "Jameslikeslily." James glared at Peter and pulled a miserable Sirius into the shop, Remus and Peter following.  
  
"Hey, girls," James said loudly as they reached the group of female soon-to-be-seventh-years studying some Witchy Woman magazines.  
  
"Hey," Lily answered for the group as they turned to greet their old friends. "How's everyone's summer been?"  
  
"Dreadful," Sirius moaned. "I've been living in fear of being mur-" Remus elbowed him sharply in the stomach, and Sirius fell silent. Julia, Lily, and Elisabeth giggled, but Maggie just looked on soberly.  
  
"So what's new?" Julia asked cheerfully.  
  
"James is head boy!" Remus announced, looking partly proud for his friend, though also faintly jealous.  
  
"That's great! Lily's head girl!" Elisabeth said enthusiastically. She wasn't in the least bit jealous of Lily, there was no way Elisabeth would want to do all of that extra school work in her last year of Hogwarts. This year was gonna be like a huge party.  
  
"Really, Lil? Cool," James said, grinning at his friend of ten years.  
  
"I can't believe you made it, with all the mischief you four cause," Julia said to James, teasing. He grinned at her and replied, "Well, actually, the pranks kind of had something to do with me being chosen."  
  
"James," Lily said warningly, though she was laughing. She knew he hadn't really done anything stupid to get himself chosen as head boy- he was just that good at his school work.  
  
James grinned back at Lily as she laughed, green eyes dancing even in the dim light of the bookstore. Ever since he was a little boy James had marveled at Lily's eyes and the way the sparkled and shone in the light.  
  
"It's kind of stuffy in here," Maggie said, glancing at Sirius as though it were his fault the room was uncomfortable. "Let's head over to the Leaky Cauldron and get something to drink."  
  
"Sounds good, I'll treat," Remus volunteered. Remus's family was wealthy, as was James's, and he often treated the group to food or drinks, and sometimes a night at the movies in muggle London.  
  
That was always an interesting event. Sirius, who could loose his mind sometimes in the crowd of muggles, would exclaim loudly over the electricity and the cars. Just last June the group of them had nearly had to tape his mouth shut to keep him from getting them all questioned by a confused muggle policeman.  
  
As the eight of them walked under the now very hot sun towards the Leaky Cauldron they chatted animatedly about how they'd spent the last part of their summer. Or, the part since they'd last seen each other.  
  
"Mum and Dad took us to France," Julia exclaimed, eyes bright at the memory. "We heard some Beauxbatons students discussing their school- we know French, you know, Mum's family's from Lyon-"  
  
"Petunia dragged us out to Godric's Hollow to meet her boyfriend Vernon Dursly. He's an ugly brute if I've ever seen one," Lily was telling James, who grinned.  
  
"More than Snape?"  
  
"Oy, that's a tough one-"  
  
"I got nearly full marks on my O.W.L.s," Remus told Elisabeth, who was listening intently. "But I messed up on Whittle's potion test, the damn hog-"  
  
"Yeah, so did I," Elisabeth commented, brushing a lock of pure blond hair out of her face. "I couldn't remember if it was one or two teaspoons- "  
  
And the group chattered merrily away as they entered the Leaky Cauldron, James holding the door open to let the ladies- and Sirius- through.  
  
"What'll it be?" asked the bartender as the troupe slid into counter seats.  
  
"Butter beer!" cried out Elisabeth, Remus, Maggie, and Julia.  
  
"Pumpkin fizz!" requested Lily, James, and Peter.  
  
"A pint of mulled mead," Sirius demanded. The bartender chuckled, twisting his thin black mustache. He'd seen Sirius in here very often this summer, and they always had this very same conversation.  
  
"Not till you're older, lad," the bartender smirked at Sirius, who pouted fakely and said, "Oh fine, I'll take a butter beer."  
  
The lanky bartender stepped a few steps away to begin pouring drinks, spilling a bit down his bright red vest.  
  
Meanwhile Maggie and Lily were whispering animatedly to each other at their end of the counter, gesturing with their hands and throwing smirking glances at Sirius. Maggie wasn't exactly an ax-murderer, but she knew how to get back at people when they made her angry. And she and Lily were cooking up just the thing.  
  
"Here ya go, kids," the bartender said, sliding glasses down the counter at each person. "Three sickels each."  
  
Remus pulled a fistful of coins from his pocket and counted them out, pushing them across the shiny countertop at the bartender. He held a hand just below the counter and pushed the money into his hand. With a wink at the group he dissappeared behind a pair of swinging doors.  
  
"Mmm, thanks Remus," Julia said a moment later, taking a breath from gulping her butter beer. Nearly half the glass was gone already.  
  
"Thanks, Remy," Sirius squeaked. Julia rolled her eyes at Sirius and said cheerfully, "Shutup."  
  
A very pleasant rest of the morning was spent sipping foaming and fizzing drinks in the cool dimness of the Leaky Cauldron. The teens watched the witches and wizards come and go, buying drinks or hurrying straight back to tap on the bricks to the Alley.  
  
"Look at that one," Peter muttered to Maggie as a tiny man with green skin hobbled in from the Alley.  
  
"What do you s'pose he is?" James said in a low voice, joining the conversation.  
  
"Who knows?" Maggie said a bit more forcefully and meanly than she'd meant to. Being near Sirius was really making her temper flare. Lily, who'd been listening to her friends talk, noticed the tone in Maggie's voice and glanced up sharply. In a moment Lily had decided what to do.  
  
Clearing her throat Lily stood up and said, "Well, I hate to leave you all like this, but I think we girls had something else to do before we go out wandering today. Official girl business," she said pointedly, looking at Julia and Elisabeth with eyes pleading for them to stay quiet. "Catch up with you later?"  
  
"Sure," James answered, giving a wave as the girls got up.  
  
"How about at the broom store?" Julia suggested as a meeting place.  
  
"Nah, too crowded," James said.  
  
"In front of Olivanders?" Sirius put in.  
  
"Sounds good," Elisabeth agreed for the girls. "See you."  
  
"Bye!" the boys chimed together, and Elisabeth, Julia, Lily and Maggie stepped out of the cool pub into the bright sunshine that beat down from the sky above.  
  
"Where're we going?" Julia asked curiously and quietly, glancing behind her to make sure that the boys hadn't followed for fun.  
  
"Shh, just wait a second," Maggie hushed her sister. She knew where they were going, she and Lily had discussed this earlier this morning.  
  
Lily pulled her wand out of her new black robes, tapping the bricks in front of her. In a moment Diagon Alley was spread before them, a riot of colours and noises.  
  
Slipping onto the street, the girls hurried quickly towards an old joke shop just at the end of the block; an old, brick building that most people missed. They had to weave around quite a few people to get there, and many "Sorry"s were issued as they crashed into strangers.  
  
"What's this all about?" Elisabeth asked as the girls swung into the store, pushing their hair back and staring into the darkness, trying to get the greenish tinge out of their eyes brought there by the sunlight.  
  
"Oh, just a bit of fun," Lily said non-chalantly, taking a few steps in and picking up a fake crystal ball, examining it.  
  
"Fun against Sirius," Maggie added in an undertone, and Elisabeth and Julia instantly understood. Grinning, they hurried deeper into the shop.  
  
"Got anything particular in mind?" Julia asked, eyeing a gruesome set of fizzing blood capsules with interest.  
  
"Let's just give these guidelines; anything embarrassing or horrifying will do," Maggie said with an evil glint in her eye.  
  
The girls circled the shop almost seven times, carefully picking out useful looking objects and pointing at less-likely looking ones, murmuring quietly so as not to disturb the few other customers in the store.  
  
It was on the seventh round, nearly a half an hour after they'd entered the shop, that Elisabeth found a pile of gag clothes that they'd missed before.  
  
"Hey," she summoned her friends, holding up a frilly pink tutu and grinning. They looked at each other and grinned, rushing over to help Elisabeth dig up some more girly clothes.  
  
"Omigod, look at these robes!" Julia exclaimed, holding out turqoise robes with horribly ugly orange piping. The girls threw their heads back and laughed; they could just see Sirius in the horrid thing.  
  
"Nice shoes, eh?" Lily asked, holding up glittering light pink high- heels.  
  
"Yeah, they'd look great on James," Maggie laughed. Lily blushed a bit, she knew the comment was aimed at her, to get a reaction. But still, thinking about him made her blush just a bit. They giggled again, sifting through the outfits and surfacing with the most outrageous clothing they'd ever seen in their life.  
  
"I can't pick just one, theres so many!" Maggie said, grinning. "And I've only got so much money!"  
  
"We'll all pool our money," Elisabeth said. "This is just too good a chance to miss."  
  
"Yeah, and who says we only have to play a trick on Sirius?" Lily asked mischievously.  
  
The group grew silent, smiles and shining eyes showing their agreement on the great idea they were concocting.  
  
"Let's do it."  
  
As they were piling the clothes up on the counter, Elisabeth turned to the others and said, "You don't think it's a bit mean, do you?"  
  
"Hey, all's fair in love and war," Lily said cheerfully.  
  
"Unless you're Sirius Black," Maggie said evily. "Or in association with him. Time for some pay back, girls!"  
  
They were still laughing as they carried their heavy shopping bags out the door.  
  
A/n: Ahh, another chapter done. Now lets see if I can get some reviews on this thing!! I know this was a bit shorter than the last one, so im sorry, but I have a project im working on for english and kinda short on time. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter! More lovey dovey flirtiness in the next one, I got a little side tracked this chapter! Review Review and Ill love you lots, and if you don't.. I guess ill love you anyway. Maybe. :) Luv, Cassi~ 


	4. The Drag Queen Starts To Fall For Lily

A/n: Creeped out by the title? Hehehehe! ull see in a minute..  
  
FOUR - THE QUEEN DRAG QUEEN STARTS TO FALL FOR LILY  
  
"Shush Julia, they'll hear you!" Elisabeth whispered hurriedly, stumbling on a stair.  
  
"No they wont, they sleep like rocks!"  
  
"How do you know, Maggie?" Elisabeth whispered, wriggling her eyebrows at her friend as they climbed the stairs to the seventh year boys' dormitory. The staircase was dark and cool, with a shaft of moonlight shining silver across a few stairs. A spider scurried across the cold stone towards its web.  
  
Maggie blushed and didn't answer, sending all four girls into a burst of giggles and gasps of, "Shh! Shh!" But each time one of them hushed the others they would break into laughter again, Lily nearly falling over from amusement.  
  
"Okay, okay," Julia said finally, when they'd all caught their breaths. The troupe tip-toed as quietly as possible up the stairs to the tip top, but they almost woke they boys up from laughter when Elisabeth stubbed her toe and shrieked loudly.  
  
Stifling their giggles, the girls listened closely for any sounds behind the door reading "Seventh Years."  
  
"All clear!" Lily whispered. "Hold on-" Lily turned the door knob carefully, putting a bag she'd been carrying down on the steps. The other girls, each carrying two bags of horribly ugly and girly clothes, shushed each other, though no one was making any noise. When the sounds of Peter's snores could have been heard from the common room through the open doorway, Lily mouthed "We're in!"  
  
Smiling to each other, the girls shuffled silently into the room, taking in the sights of the boys' dormitory. It wasn't their first visit, though it was their first nighttime one (with, they suspected, the exception of Maggie, but no one knew for sure). The room was quite different at night, with the curtains blowing softly in the breeze and showing a soft blanket of stars in the sky above, and the curtains on Remus's bed were drawn.  
  
"Look," Maggie muttered, pointing at Peter. Peter was clutching a little stuffed rat and snoring, drooling all over his Thomas the Tank Engine sheets.  
  
The girls looked at each other, trying to decide if they should giggle or be disgusted. Finally Elisabeth shrugged, and they had to cover Julia's mouth to keep her from laughing again.  
  
Elisabeth let out a squeak and pointed towards James's bed, where his bare chest was showing above the covers. None of them had noticed that James had been working out this summer, and though he wasn't Super Abs, he was getting there.  
  
Julia turned to the others and said, eyes twinkling, "You don't think hes..NAKED?" Maggie, Elisabeth, and Julia covered their mouths, shuddering from held in laughter.  
  
Lily, however, blushed furiously as she thought of this. How could they think about James like that, he was such an old friend! And yet she wondered.  
  
"Let's do this, come on!" Lily hounded her friends, and they went to the end of each bed to open the boys' trunks.  
  
As they took out piles of black robes, grey vests, scarlet sweaters, and black slacks, the girls piled the clothing neatly on the floor. Then, piece by piece, in dead silence, Elisabeth, Julia, Maggie, and Lily began to carefully unload their "goody bags" as they referred to the bags in code. Inside James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter's trunks, where there previously had been nice and neat sets of school clothing, the girls began hurriedly piling very drag queen looking clothes into the trunks, being sure to replace every last piece of clothing that the boys owned.  
  
From his bed Remus called out in his sleep, causing the girls to cringe or jump.  
  
"Hurry!" Elisabeth said, and the four of them rushed to finish packing up the trunks. Peter's snores faltered, as if he was waking up. Shots of ice shot through the girls' stomachs as they looked at each other in horror. If Peter woke up, their money would have been a total waste, and their prank ruined-  
  
"Quick, leave the ransom note and lets bolt," Maggie said, glancing at the beds to be sure James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were still asleep.  
  
Lily placed a note on the table under the window. It was a riddle, printed in Elisabeth's beautiful handwriting on a pink piece of paper.  
  
"Move!" Lily whispered, and they piled the boys' real clothes into the now empty bags and ran out the door, Lily closing it softly behind them.  
  
Down and down the staircase they sprinted, heading for their own dormitory in the early morning darkness. It was just about two o'clock in the morning when they finally crawled into bed, the boys' clothes under their beds. They'd get up early, since tomorrow was Saturday, and hide them where the ransom note said they were.  
  
Lily fell asleep giggling as Maggie said, "I can't wait until tomorrow morning!"  
  
*****************  
  
"Mine's full of them, too!" Sirius's horror-struck voice echoed against their dorm walls. It was eleven AM, nearly lunch time, and the boys had awoken to find nothing but girls clothes in their trunks. They were getting frantic- no way could they go down to lunch in clothes like that.  
  
"It was the girls, I know it," Peter said stupidly. "I think I heard them in here last night, but I was dreaming about cheese and couldn't wake up-"  
  
"Hey!" James exclaimed, stumbling across the floor in his boxers (he wasn't naked, which would have been a disappointment to the girls). He'd spotted a piece of pink paper under the window, flapping softly in the breeze that was blowing in through the curtains.  
  
James read it, heart speeding up. This was bad, really bad. He could tell they weren't getting their clothes back for awhile.  
  
"What is it?" Remus asked from where he was crouched looking under the beds for clothes.  
  
James opted just to read the note aloud:  
  
You've had your fun  
  
Now well have ours  
  
The clothes you're missing  
  
Are covered by stars  
  
From there they went  
  
To Peter's enemy's home  
  
Stop at the doorway  
  
Head towards the drone  
  
Of voices so desperate  
  
To be filled inside  
  
Here you'll meet the end  
  
Of your foolish pride  
  
So thanks all to Sirius  
  
For prompting our trick  
  
Get what you deserve  
  
You horrible prick!  
  
"Do they really have to screw with us?"  
  
"Hey, Sirius, it's your fault we're in this bind. You HAD to dump Maggie-"  
  
"Hold on," James said, re-reading the paper. "Let's just follow this and try to figure out where our clothes are."  
  
Remus looked at James as though he'd just told them all he was marrying an owl.  
  
"But-but-wearing WHAT?"  
  
James walked over to the trunks, digging through the clothing in search of a perfect outfit, but all he came up with was a neon green sundress and a floppy pink hat. He looked at them for a moment with his nose turned up, then quickly wriggled into the dress and turned around. Placing the hat on his head, he looked at his friends and struck a pose, saying, "How do I look?"  
  
Remus, Sirius, and Peter groaned but followed suit, picking the plainest clothes from each others' trunks and slipping into the girly outfits.  
  
"We look like drag queens!" Peter complained, looking at himself in the mirror beside the door. In a bright red skirt and deep blue tank top, he looked like a little boy playing dress-up with his older sister.  
  
"This bites," Remus announced, looking down at his baggy orange pants in disgust.  
  
"Oh, come off it," Sirius said, mouth turning upwards into a slight grin as he looked at his friends. His mood had suddenly changed; he had a way they could pull this off without looking too stupid. The best way to go about this would be to pretend that it was another one of their jokes.  
  
"I appoint James as our Queen," he announced, gesturing to his friend. James, seeing where Sirius was going with this, held out his skirt and curtsied deeply.  
  
"I shall be the princess," Sirius said, standing up straight with superiority. "And you two," he said, pointing at Remus and Peter, "Shall be maids-in-waiting."  
  
Remus and Peter looked at each other.  
  
"He's gone off his rocker," Remus muttered, and Peter had to agree.  
  
"Just how shall we go about this?" James asked curiously, watching Sirius cross the room and take the note from the window-table.  
  
"Oh, let's see. The two of us could work this out," Sirius said, reading over the poem. "And as for the clothes, well, we'll just tell everyone we're petitioning for free-dress days; no more uniforms for us drag royalties!"  
  
The boys laughed, and James went to help Sirius decipher the riddle.  
  
"'Covered by stars,'" Sirius read thoughtfully. Remus crossed the room and looked at the paper, also.  
  
"Maybe that means outside. They probably wrote it last night," Remus said. Sirius and James were silent a moment, then Sirius said, "but that's too easy. And besides, it doesn't make sense. Shouldn't they have said 'sky' or 'sun' or something? They knew we wouldn't see it till this morning, that was the whole idea."  
  
James stood mutely, thinking over and over //stars-stars-//. He caught sight of the constellation maps they'd been working on the night before for Astronomy.  
  
"The astronomy tower!" James shouted suddenly. "There's always stars there, in the observatory."  
  
Sirius thought a moment. "Well, it's iffy, but I think you're on to something there!"  
  
Remus took it upon himself to read the next line, "' From there they went to Peter's enemy's home-"  
  
"Peter, who do you hate more than anything?" James asked his friend, who was sitting in front of the mirror miserably.  
  
"Snape," Peter whispered, shuddering as he said it. Just the thought of Severus gave him the willys.  
  
"So the dungeons- the door to the dungeons-" James reasoned.  
  
"Okay, finally-" Sirius said, reading, " Head towards the drone of voices so desperate to be filled inside, here you'll meet the end of your foolish pride."  
  
He thought a moment. "To be filled inside?"  
  
"Food?" Peter suggested from his place on the floor, noticing how loudly his stomach was growling.  
  
"Yeah, and the drone of voices would be students talking-"  
  
"Oh, I don't believe it," Sirius groaned. "They're sending us into the great hall."  
  
The boys looked at each other in silence a few moments. To go now, and get their clothes, or wait until after lunch but starve and waste half of their Saturday?  
  
James sighed, then adjusted his hat and said, "Well, chaps, I think I could go for a bit of lunch."  
  
The others slowly nodded in agreement, then, steeling themselves up, filed slowly out their dormitory door.  
  
************  
  
"Do you think they'll be able to figure it out?"  
  
"Yes, Maggie," Elisabeth said for what felt like the hundreth time. The girls were eating slowly today, waiting for the boys to march in either in drag or their birthday suits.  
  
"I wonder what's taking them so long?" Lily asked aloud, but no sooner had the words left her lips then an echo of booming, hysterical laughter began at the entrance of the hall. It spread quickly out from the doorway, like a wildfire eating up dry forest.  
  
"I think they're here," Lily whispered, and the girls grinned.  
  
"Silence, silence!" McGonagall spoke up from the teachers' table. She and Professor Flitwick were the only teachers eating at the moment.  
  
After a great while the laughter died down, and James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus - looking ridiculous in their drag clothing - marched down the center of the hall, Sirius saying, "You know, Professor McGonagall, I think it's time we had a choice of what we wear to class."  
  
"Ban the uniforms! Ban the uniforms!" Remus and James started chanting, and a few people in the hall joined in.  
  
"We should be able to express ourselves," Sirius preached on, a round of, "ban the uniforms!" echoing through the hall.  
  
"And if we want to dress in drag, and honor our drag queen here," Sirius said, gesturing at James, "Then we should be allowed to!"  
  
"Ban the uniforms! Ban the uniforms! Ban the-"  
  
"Hush!" McGonagall yelled, but all she got in response was, "Ban the uniforms!"  
  
"Let's ditch out the door," Lily suggested. "Make them chase after us."  
  
Eyes glinting in happiness, the girls grabbed the bags of clothes that were hidden under the table and stood up quietly, scurrying along the wall towards the door. They'd just about made it safely out when Peter pointed and yelled, "There they go!"  
  
The boys turned quickly and chased after Lily, Julia, Maggie and Elisabeth, who were running now. Sirius remembered to turn and wave at his audience as he reached the door, yelling, "Tootles!"  
  
The girls ran with all their might, turning corners here and vaulting up a set of stairs there. The chase went on for a good five minutes before, breathless, the girls were cornered in an empty classroom.  
  
"Give our clothes here!" James said, approaching Lily with a look of fake murderous rage in his eyes. She laughed and backed up, saying, "if you can get them!"  
  
She dashed towards the door. Sirius, Peter, and Remus attacked the other girls, grabbing for the bags (they were really having quite a good time).  
  
Lily had almost escaped, her hand on the door handle- but James had another idea-  
  
"Oomph!" James dove against Lily, sending them both laughing to the floor, James's dress tangled up around him as he struggled for the bag.  
  
James, suddenly realizing that he was pretty much lying on top of Lily, thought he should get up. But when he looked at her, to see how she was reacting, all he saw were the smiling, sparkling green eyes staring back at him. Lily made no move to get him off of her.  
  
They gazed at each other a few moments, both oblivious to the struggle still going on around them. Neither made a move to get up, and Lily grinned very slightly, blushing a light pink. James had the sudden, crazy urge to kiss her. But before he could do anything rash, Sirius yelled, "Oy, James, grab the bag and let's be off!"  
  
"Right," James replied loudly, scrambling to his feet. He threw a glance at Lily, who was sitting up now. She looked evenly back at him. Where had that little prompt to kiss her come from? He'd never felt like he wanted to before. And yet, now that he thought about the idea, it didn't seem so bad-  
  
"Let's GO!" Sirius said, rushing out the door with two bags in hand. Remus and Peter were close behind. James took off after them, thinking confused and crazed thoughts about Lily as he ran.  
  
*******  
  
Julia held a hand out to Lily, helping her up. Lily's mind was spinning, thinking of what had just happened. The look on James's face had been different than any other time that he'd looked at her, and yet, she sort of liked it. Why had that made her so giddy? James was an old friend, could she- Lily froze at the thought. She couldn't LIKE James, could she?  
  
"Hey, Lily," Julia said, snapping her fingers in front of her face. "You there?"  
  
"Oh, yeah!" Lily said, shaking her head and pushing thoughts of James aside. "Wasn't that a great prank?"  
  
"Yeah!" the others exclaimed in agreement.  
  
"Too bad they convinced everyone that THEY had come up with it," Elisabeth said.  
  
"Yeah, but they blew their cover when they chased us out of the hall," Julia pointed out.  
  
"'Drag queens,' honestly," Maggie said, shaking her head. The way she said it seemed quite funny, and the girls burst out laughing, thinking about what a great job they'd just done at getting back at the boys.  
  
But as they laughed, Lily couldn't seem to get her mind off of one of them in particular: the same one that was thinking about her at that very moment.  
  
A/N: Well???? Thanks sooooooo much to everyone who reviewed, I love you all so much! Special thanks to Deirdre, if u hadn't told me to change my summary I may never have gotten reviews. Keep reviewing so I know if you like it!!! The next chapter is going to have major Lily-James in it, ooh I can't wait I think I'll start writing it ASAP. Thanks again for reviewing, keep up the good work! :) Luv, Cassi~ 


	5. A Simple Dance Is All It Takes

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHAPTERS: Unless I turned into JK Rowling overnight, I don't own the whole HP thing! But I DO own the storyline (though I admit, I borrowed a few ideas.just cuz I liked them!!!) and I own some characters. Please enjoy (  
  
FIVE-A SIMPLE DANCE IS ALL IT TAKES  
  
The great hall was brightly lit by candlelight, and the enchanted ceiling shone with stars. The comforting sounds of clattering plates and students chatting filled the hall as Lily, James, Julia, Remus, Maggie, Elisabeth, Peter and Sirius ate dinner together a few nights before Halloween.  
  
The boys had forgiven the girls for their prank, though they spent a lot of spare time trying to figure out a good way to get back at them. Sirius had a lot of ideas, but they were often dismissed as too mean or too dangerous.  
  
Lily and James hadn't mentioned anything to their friends about their crushes, and for the first week or so they weren't sure that they really DID like each other. After all, they hadn't talked about it together, so it made things a bit harder. But from exchanged glances and snatches of conversation here and there, they were both pretty sure about it.  
  
Anyway, tonight they were eating and talking merrily with their friends (though they threw glances at each other every now and then). They could worry about their feelings later.  
  
"Hey, did you guys hear what happened to Lucius last night?" Remus asked, helping himself to a fourth helping of mashed potatoes.  
  
"No, what?" a few of the others asked, and Remus grinned, saying, "He's got detention for being out of bed."  
  
"And that's not all," Elisabeth put in, who also had heard the story. "He was meeting that sour-faced, scrunchy-nosed girlfriend of his in a classroom for some 'quality time.'"  
  
The girls giggled and Sirius couldn't resist but add, "and we all know what THAT means."  
  
"Oh, shut it," Maggie said to Sirius, but she added a small smile to show she wasn't really serious. They were slowly becoming friends again, though it wasn't easy.  
  
"So what do you think we should do for Halloween?" James asked the group, more specifically the boys.  
  
"I'm thinking something big-"  
  
"With food?" Peter asked hopefully. Amazing, since he'd just eaten five helpings of everything-  
  
Remus rolled his eyes, ignoring Peter and saying, "Yes, it's our last Halloween to cause trouble here, after all-"  
  
The group was silent a minute at these words, thinking about how at the end of the year they wouldn't be coming back.  
  
"Oh well, we'll figure it out tonight," Remus suggested after a moment.  
  
"And anyway, there's another Hogsmede visit tomorrow. What do you say we all go together?" Julia said, looking around the group.  
  
"I dunno," Maggie said, looking skeptical.  
  
"Oh, but the last time we all hung out in public was so much fun!"  
  
"Yeah, but you're all crazy!" Maggie retorted, eyeing Sirius.  
  
"Oh come on! That day at the Leaky Cauldron was fun."  
  
"Hey, I've got an idea," James said. "How about I treat everyone to lunch at the Three Broomsticks? And then we head up to Honeyduke's and get a nice big supply of Halloween candy."  
  
"Oh, and can we visit the shrieking shack? I hear it's haunted," Elisabeth said, eyes glinting. The boys exchanged nervous glances, and Remus looked at his plate.  
  
"Er, maybe," James said. "But how does the plan sound?"  
  
"Great!" Lily said, smiling at James. He smiled back and held her gaze a few moments, but Lily's cheeks coloured and she looked away.  
  
James grinned at his plate as he put another forkful of pork chops into his mouth. Ever since that day the girls had taken the guys' clothes he and Lily had shared many moments like the one that had just happened; moments that in the scheme of things didn't mean much, but they were nice all the same  
  
Dinner began to wind down, and many plates were abandoned with partially-eaten fourth and fifth helpings left on them. Julia opened her mouth to suggest retiring to the common room, but she was interrupted when Dumbledore tapped his water glass with a spoon and said clearly, "I have an announcement to make."  
  
He clapped his hands; the platters of food disappeared and the plates wiped themselves sparkling clean.  
  
When the hall was silent, Dumbledore smiled and said, "Well. This year is off to a great start, and I think we need a bit of fun for the holiday. So this Halloween Eve we will have a Halloween Ball, fourth years and up."  
  
The hall erupted into excited conversation, fourth years and up looking forward to a night off from studying, and third years and below complaining loudly that they weren't going to be included. Dumbledore grinned at the hall of chattering students, happy that they would have a chance to kick back and relax.  
  
Our favourite little group at the Gryffindor table turned quickly to each other and broke into a cheerful chatter, Lily and James suddenly avoiding each other's gazes with a tinge of red in their cheeks.  
  
"A ball! This is such the best," Julia said, using a phrase that her mother said a lot.  
  
"Yeah, I get to show off my dancing skills," Sirius joked, and the group laughed. They all knew that Sirius was a horrible dancer; humorous dancer, yes, but horrible.  
  
"Well we've got four boys and four dolls," Sirius calculated smartly. "So why don't we each pick a partner and go together? Lily? Will you go with me?"  
  
Lily froze, heart falling. Everything seemed to stop in a horrible, screeching halt. The hall had gone silent to her ears, and she could feel the colour draining from her face.  
  
She liked Sirius, really, she did, but James- she snuck a glance at him, but he was looking down at his plate, picking at an imaginary catch in the metal.  
  
Lily took a deep breath and steeled herself up, ready to answer-  
  
"How about if we don't pick partners, and instead we all go as a big, merry group," Elisabeth suggested, throwing a quick look at Lily and then smiling innocently at Sirius, who shrugged and said, "Suits me."  
  
Lily sighed the biggest sigh of relief possible, feeling as though a huge weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. She gave Elisabeth an extremely grateful look when Sirius had his head turned, and Elisabeth winked back, nodding towards James. Lily, heartbeat picking up a bit, looked over at James.  
  
He was still staring at his plate, picking at it- but there was a blush of red there, and a look of immense relief. Lily could see the faint outline of a smile playing about his lips.  
  
Oh, excellent.  
  
************************  
  
"Where's the hairbrush?"  
  
"Anybody seen my lipstick?"  
  
"OH cripes! I can't find my dress robes! I had them just here-"  
  
The seventh year girls' dormitory was in utter chaos, though the dance didn't start for another hour. Lily had a towel wrapped around herself; she'd just got out of the shower and managed to misplace her dress robes. Julia was fighting with her curly hair, which had picked the worst moment possible to frizz up. [A/N: It's a trait of curly hair that none of us can avoid!] Maggie was frantically searching for her lipstick, which had rolled silently behind her trunk. And blankets and pillows went flying as Elisabeth tore the room apart, looking for her hairbrush.  
  
"What time is it?" Julia asked anxiously, giving her hair a disgusted look and climbing off of her bed.  
  
"About 6:00," Lily said, then, "Oy! Where in the hell are my dress ro-"  
  
"Here!" Elisabeth exclaimed, tossing a light, shimmery navy-blue bundle of fabric to Lily. She caught it and shook it out, admiring the sparkles in the light. It was made of light fabric with glitter enchanted on, making it look like a starry sky. The colour went beautifully with her hair.  
  
"Thank you! Where was it?" Lily asked Elisabeth. Now that her dress was safely laid out on her bed, she began helping Elisabeth look for the hairbrush.  
  
"Oh, I moved it accidentally a bit earlier," Elisabeth said, getting down on her hands and knees and checking under her bed. "Sorry."  
  
"No problem," Lily responded, happy it had been returned. An image of her and James dancing flashed through her mind, and she felt a jolt of nerves tingle through her.  
  
The room was silent for the first moment in the past four hours, but it was soon broken.  
  
"Elisabeth," Julia said, giggling slightly and holding out a shiny green hairbrush. "I think I used yours by mistake-"  
  
Elisabeth looked up and her body sagged in relief as she reached out for her brush.  
  
"Sorry," Julia said, giggling again.  
  
Elisabeth glared for a moment, but her face crinkled into a smile a moment later and she responded, "It's okay. No harm done- except for a wasted twenty minutes!"  
  
"Which is a major crime!" Maggie put in. She was now sitting on the floor in her pale pink dress robes and painting her toenails a pearly colour. The absence of colour from her lips suggested that she'd given up on her lipstick hunt.  
  
"I need to fix this!" Julia exclaimed as she tugged on her hair, exasperated. Maggie waved for her to come over, and Julia sat in front of her sister, pushing aside the nail polish bottle.  
  
Lily wriggled into her dress robes, shivering a bit in anticipation. She'd been looking forward to this night with growing excitement, and lunch today at the Three Broomsticks had hardly been bearable, what with the thought of coming back and getting ready.  
  
She grinned as she thought of lunch, where she and James had sat next to each other. They carried on their own little conversation as the others chatted, and Lily found herself feeling more and more strongly about James as the day carried on.  
  
"There," Maggie's voice interrupted Lily's thoughts. Lily turned, fully-clothed and ready, to look at Julia's hair. The girls didn't kid when they said Maggie could work wonders with hair: what had previously been a mess of frizz and curls was now a smooth French braid, curled a bit at the bottom just under the clip.  
  
"Thank you!" Julia shrieked as she examined her hair in the mirror. Now all she had left were her robes, and she danced happily over to her bed to change.  
  
*******  
  
At five till seven the girls stepped through the portrait hole entrance of Gryffindor tower, heading towards the stairs eagerly.  
  
"Are we meeting them anywhere?"  
  
"No," Elisabeth said. "Remus told me they'd just find us down there."  
  
The girls hurried quickly downstairs, stunning in their dress robes. As they reached the great hall they could hear music blaring from just behind the closed doors, and the sounds of students chatting and dancing.  
  
Pushing the doors open, the girls trouped in and took in the sights. Julia gasped.  
  
The usual floating candles now glowed with black flames, casting a purpley glow across the room. The tables had disappeared from the hall completely, and instead a row of comfy looking, dark blue, one-person chairs lined the walls. There was a layer of mist softly covering the floor, and every now and then a shooting star would streak across the enchanted ceiling, leaving a shimmering trail behind it.  
  
"Hey!" Sirius's voice greeted the girls as he and the boys approached them. Lily couldn't help but notice how handsome James looked, his dark green robes making even his unruly hair look nice.  
  
"Care to dance, ladies?" James piped up, glancing at Lily and shooting her a grin.  
  
"Love to," Lily answered for them, winking at James, and Remus led the way out to the dance floor. In a few moments the eight of them were dancing away, lost in the rhythm of the music and the chattering of the crowd.  
  
They'd been dancing almost a half an hour before Sirius's radical dancing, er, movements, began attracting attention. A few sixth-year Ravenclaws laughed when Sirius winked at them, wiggling his hips and moving his arms in a very Egyptian-looking matter. Lily couldn't help but break out into peals of laughter at this, and soon the whole group had joined in. Sirius looked more ridiculous than ever, and that was definitely saying something!  
  
"Well, isn't this cosy?"  
  
Lily's giggling stopped when Severus Snape's voice pierced through the laughter of the onlookers. She looked at him as he and his best friend, Lucious Malfoy, stood sneering at the group.  
  
She threw a quick look back at her friends, her eyes pleading for help, but they were all too caught up in the hype to notice Snape. Except Sirius, but he wasn't thinking too well.  
  
"Bugger off, Snape," Sirius said cooly, his steps not faltering a moment. He wiggled over to a Hufflepuff seventh-year, who laughed and joined him in his Egypt hip-dance ritual. He seemed to already have forgotten that Snape was standing there.  
  
"Care to dance, Lily?" Severus asked creepily, grinning a menacing grin at Lily. She looked at him, glancing back at her friends again. James was nowhere to be found, and the rest of the group was in a circle, taking turns dancing in the middle and not paying attention to Lily.  
  
Lily had a tolerance for Snape that the others didn't; she thought he was just misunderstood. Not that she liked him, no way. She couldn't stand the boy. But she felt sorry for him, being the sweetheart that she was. One dance couldn't hurt-  
  
She held out an arm, and Snape pounced eagerly.  
  
"Come on now," Snape said, stepping closer and taking Lily's hand, other arm slipping around her waist. "Dance," he said forcefully, and he started steering her around. Lily fought against it, but soon he had danced her far away from her friends, and she was lost in the crowd.  
  
Her mind suddenly entered a state of panic. The look in Severus's eyes was scaring her, and she didn't like being this far from her friends; who knew what Snape was capable of?  
  
Lily summoned the nerve to say, "Severus, can we go that way a bit?"  
  
He tightened his grip, sneering, "No, let's join MY friends-"  
  
Every fiber in Lily's body, every little cell, urged her to push Snape away. She struggled with him, but when it came down to it, he was just that much stronger than her. He continued his evil stare as he danced her around the middle of the floor, crashing her into people and stepping on her feet. Lily winced in pain, her mind crying out helplessly for someone, anyone to come save her. Where were her friends? Couldn't anybody cut in? She hated Severus, hated him with such a passion that she tried to kick him below the belt. But as she drew her foot back he swung her around, causing her to loose balance and miss.  
  
The song changed to a slow beat, and Lily wanted to cry at the look she saw in Snape's eyes. //Oh, god no// she thought desperately. //Why did I agree? What was I thinking?//  
  
Someone tapped Snape on his shoulder. Severus turned, confused. Lily leapt at the chance, pushing him roughly and saying forcefully, "Get away, you freak."  
  
From behind Snape came the person who'd tapped him [guess who..].  
  
"That's enough, Severus," James said in a menacing, threatening voice. "I think she's had enough." He looked ready to fight Snape, should he need to, but the situation wasn't as bad as that.  
  
"She agreed," Snape said, trying to reach for Lily again, but James knocked Snape's arm out of the way.  
  
"I doubt that."  
  
"No, James, I did-" Lily put in, and she couldn't help wincing at the look of surprise that James gave her. There was something else in his eyes-  
  
"But I don't want to anymore," she said quickly. "I'm done."  
  
"Great, then shall we?" James asked, holding an arm out. His mind was reeling. Lily AGREED to dance with Snape? What the hell was that? But- but he'd had the feeling they liked each other. What if Lily wouldn't even dance with him now?  
  
But Lily silenced his fears by taking his arm and smirking at Snape, saying, "Yes, James, I would love to dance."  
  
And before Snape could get a word in edgewise, they were off.  
  
In a matter of seconds Lily had pushed thoughts of what had just happened out of her mind, and she smiled, happy to be dancing across the floor with James. They were doing a sort of waltz, though a bit more modern. It was slow, and involved a lot of dipping and spinning. Every time James dipped Lily their gazes would lock together, and they'd smile.  
  
As they worked their way slowly across the floor, both caught up in feelings of tremendous happiness, people began to look on. There was something so beautiful about the way the looked, dancing together-  
  
Lily somehow managed to note through her giddiness what a nice dancer James was. They reached their friends in good time for a slow dance, and James twirled Lily, smiling at her. She giggled self-consciously, and a few more people turned to look.  
  
James caught her when she spun back, tight in his arms. Lily lost her breath as she looked up at James, who gazed back and grinned, a bit of red in his cheeks. They stood happily together, gazing at each other, just long enough for the onlookers to turn back to their own dancing.  
  
As the song played on, nearing the end, they began to dance much more closely together, Lily's arms around his neck and his around her waist. Their eyes never looked anywhere but into each others'. For that moment, that dance that they shared, everything seemed right in the world. The closeness of it, the waves of feelings for the each other, seemed to wash over them warmly.  
  
Both wished it could last forever; and when the song changed to a more upbeat tune, they still held each other.  
  
Sometimes a simple dance is all it takes to fall in love.  
  
***************** A/n: Eeeeeee another chapter done! That was sooo very mucho fun to write! It's kinda based on something that happened to me once, so I know how Lily feels- but ee! LoL, please review review and give input, positivity is greatly appreciated!!! Dunno how long till the next chapter, but keep an eye out! I love each and every one of u who reviewed to teensy tinsy pieces! So u besta keep reviewing! Luv, Cassi~ 


	6. In Which They Talk About Love and Voldem...

SIX- IN WHICH THEY TALK ABOUT LOVE AND VOLDEMORT  
  
Lily sat perched on the end of her bed, listening to her friends chattering away as they brushed out their hair and pulled on their sleep robes. The dance had ended hours ago, but they were still up and talking about it.  
  
"So, Maggie, I saw you and Sirius slow dancing," Julia teased, wiping her make-up off with a washcloth. Maggie wrinkled her nose at her sister, but she blushed slightly and said, "It was just a friendly thing."  
  
"Oh yeah right!" Elisabeth laughed, and Maggie threw a pillow at her. Elisabeth shrieked and tossed it back, laughing.  
  
"And James and Lily," Elisabeth turned, eyes glinting as she looked at her best friend. "Or was I just imagining that passionate moment?" She threw a hand to her forehead, swooning.  
  
"Oh, shutup," Lily said, grinning slightly and looking down at her toes. She thought of James, and little shiver crept up on her. That dance- her mind drifted back to a few hours before, thinking of what it had been like to be held by James. She wanted more than anything to be somewhere with him, right now.  
  
It was so odd to think about him like that. Lily was used to James as just that; James. But now he was something different-  
  
"-that you-know-who killed ten Muggles in London last weekend," Julia was saying gravely. Lily instantly paid attention.  
  
"That's awful," Elisabeth said softly, and the girls nodded in agreement, looking at the floor. Lily pondered that for a minute. Voldemort had been gaining power since she and James were little, but back then they hadn't cared about a bad wizard.  
  
What if Voldemort got a hold of Lily's family? What if they went after her for being muggle born? Or worse, what if he went after James? Lily shuddered and blocked out the thoughts.  
  
"But none of that will ever happen to any of us," Lily said optimistically. "So, Maggie, I take it you and Sirius have forgiven each other."  
  
"I guess," Maggie said, but she blushed. "I mean, yeah. It's just- It's so stupid of him. Why date for seven years and then all of the sudden he's got no time left to try out other girls. Shouldn't he have done that in like, fourth year? Like a normal boy?"  
  
"Well, we all know Sirius is special," Julia said, patting her sister's hand. "Give him time, you guys will get back together!"  
  
"Yeah, but I don't really want to," Maggie responded very unconvincingly. The others looked at each other knowingly.  
  
"So, what about you two?" Lily asked Julia and Elisabeth. "How did you like the dance? Who did you dance with?"  
  
"No one," Julia replied. "But that's all right. I have no problem being independent!"  
  
"Not that dancing by yourself makes you independent," Maggie said.  
  
"You know what I mean."  
  
"Can't say that I do," Maggie said back, sticking her tongue out at her sister. Julia rolled her eyes and said, "All I mean is that if no one wants to dance with me, that's cool. I'm fine making my own fun." Julia gave one of her signature bright smiles and her friends couldn't help but smile back; Julia just had that affect on people.  
  
"Elisabeth, what about you?"  
  
"Um, I danced with Remus and- someone else," she said quickly.  
  
"Who?!"  
  
"No one."  
  
"ELISABETH!" the girls chorused, and Elisabeth said, "Oh all right, but I only did it cuz I felt sorry for him."  
  
"WHO?"  
  
Elisabeth looked out the window and mumbled, "Ptr."  
  
"Huh?" Maggie asked, grinning. "Did that sound like PETER?"  
  
"No-yeah," Elisabeth said, and blushed deeply. "But I don't like him! I felt bad for him!"  
  
"Ew you freak!" Maggie shrieked, though she was clearly joking. Elisabeth glared at her anyway.  
  
"But wait, we got cut off from an old conversation," Elisabeth said, suddenly realizing that their brief chat about Voldemort had stopped Lily from being too questioned. "Lil, what's up with you and James?"  
  
"Huh? Nothing," Lily said, holding her arms up as if to ask "what?"  
  
"Oh PLEASE," Julia said, giggling. She picked up a pillow, jumped off the bed, and held the pillow close, staring at it and dancing around. She finished by dipping the pillow deeply.  
  
"Shut it, you," Lily said, flinging her own pillow at Julia, who was laughing.  
  
"Really! What's up with you guys?" Elisabeth asked eagerly. "You were clutching each other like there was no tomorrow!"  
  
"Oh, come off it!" Lily said, rolling her eyes. "It was just a friendly thing."  
  
The others looked at each other and grinned. Friendly thing? Yeah right!  
  
***********  
  
The boys' dorm was much less hyperactive. Peter had zonked out hours ago, and was snoring loudly. Awhile back Sirius had attempted to stuff bits of kleenex into Peter's nostrils, but he'd just blown them back out again. It was kind of fun to watch them rocket across the room, though.  
  
But that fun wore out after awhile, and the boys were growing sleepy. Sirius was lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, occasionally mumbling things like, "Six years," and "Can't believe her," and "wonder why- "  
  
Remus, who was ignoring Sirius's personal conversation, was stretched out on his stomach on his bed, reading a book. He'd explained earlier that it was all about the birth of the first Muggles, but nobody really cared, so he kept his mouth shut and read on.  
  
James was thinking too, though unlike Sirius he kept his thoughts to himself. Images of Lily were imprinted in his mind, and he couldn't have been happier. That dance had been the best four minutes of his life- no joking. It even surpassed the time that he and the Marauders had managed to put bright pink wings on Malfoy and stick him on the roof of the astrology tower. That had to be one of their best pranks ever.  
  
"Hey, can I turn the light out?" Sirius asked hopefully, abandoning his mumblings and sitting up on his bed.  
  
"But I'm almost done with this!" Remus protested, holding up his book. Sirius made a face and said, "Don't be so moody, Moony. Is it almost that time of the month again?"  
  
"No, the full moon isn't for another two weeks. Shove off and let me finish, I've got four pages left."  
  
"Oh, all right," Sirius agreed reluctantly. For a few moments he picked at a pile of papers next to his bed in silence, but he soon grew impatient and settled on something better to do.  
  
Picking up a blank sheet of parchment, he rolled it up into a little ball and chucked it at James.  
  
"Oy!" James exclaimed as the paper ball bounced gracefully off of his forehead and landed on his stomach. Sitting up, he pitched the ball at the garbage and asked, "What?"  
  
"Do you think I made the right choice in breaking up with Maggie?" Sirius asked. Remus snorted.  
  
Sirius swung around and said, "You keep quiet and read, I want sleep!" Remus rolled his eyes but kept on reading.  
  
"Actually, Sirius, I don't understand WHY you dumped her," James said, temporarily pushing aside his thoughts of Lily.  
  
"I don't want such a big relationship!" Sirius said, and Remus snorted again.  
  
"Stop with that, will you!" Sirius complained, narrowing his eyes at Remus. This time Remus looked up and said, "Well, honestly, Padfoot, you dated her for six years before you decided not to get serious."  
  
"I-you-oh, shut up," Sirius grumbled. James grinned and said, "Not to get all mushy and girly, but did you love her Sirius?"  
  
Sirius sighed and held up his hands, saying, "Well, I don't know. What IS love, really?"  
  
"You sound like a freak."  
  
"Didn't I ask you to shut up, Moony?"  
  
"Okay, okay," James interrupted them. He knew that Remus and Sirius were really great friends, but at night Sirius got a bit edgy, and Remus loved poking fun at him.  
  
"I think I did," Sirius said. "But not enough to like, marry her or something."  
  
"Maybe that'll change."  
  
"Maybe." They sat in silence a few minutes, then Sirius got annoyed again (he really was quite evil at bedtime) and said, "Enough mushiness! I don't want to be as comfortable with you two as the girls are with each other." He would never understand how girls could hug each other and have it not seem weird.  
  
"Done," Remus announced, closing his book with a flourish. Sirius sighed thankfully and got up to put the lantern out. But just before the room plunged into blackness, Sirius said, "And anyway, we were nothing like you and Lily, James."  
  
As the light went out, James lay confused on his bed. It took a moment to understand that "we" meant Sirius and Maggie, but what exactly had Sirius meant by that last part? Was it so obvious that he was completely sold on Lily? Or was Sirius just trying to cause trouble? Maybe he should ask Sirius-  
  
But just then Sirius grumbled at Remus for leaving his book in the middle of the floor where they'd trip on it in the morning. James decided to leave it alone for tonight; no sense in making Sirius angrier than he already was.  
  
***************  
  
"Happy Halloween!" Julia greeted the boys cheerily as they stumbled into the great hall for breakfast. James's hair was looking especially ruffled, and Sirius had circles under his eyes showing the lack of sleep he'd had last night.  
  
"Yeah, you too," James said, waving a hand at her. Yawning, he reached for the orange juice and poured a gobletful.  
  
Sirius rubbed his eyes and asked, "Mags, can you pass me the eggs?"  
  
"Sure," Maggie said, and as she handed the platter to him she couldn't help but comment, "You look like you didn't sleep very well last night."  
  
"Oh, we were partying late," Sirius explained. Lily grinned from where she sat across the table; she had a feeling Sirius was fibbing.  
  
James noticed Lily's grin and couldn't help but smile; she was just so perfect, really. Lily glanced in his direction and grinned a little wider, a bit of colour appearing in her cheeks.  
  
Elisabeth noticed and couldn't help but cause some trouble.  
  
"So you two had us all captivated last night with your dancing," she commented, smiling evily. Lily glared at her friend and said, "Well, Elisabeth, we were all a little curious about you and Remus as well. Or maybe- Peter?"  
  
Elisabeth's cheeks coloured brightly and she closed her mouth while the others laughed merrily.  
  
"So what did you girls do last night?" Remus asked, trying to change the subject.  
  
"Talked," Lily said simply, glancing at her female friends. None of them added to that, though, and Remus seemed to accept it as an answer.  
  
A great whoosh startled the group as the morning mail owls came swooping into the great hall, dropping packages and thick envelopes with thunks and thuds in front of the students.  
  
A newspaper dropped in front of Remus, and he pulled the rubberband off of it, unrolling the first page.  
  
"Oh cripes," Remus said under his breath, and dropped his fork on his plate with a clatter. James, who was sitting nearest to him, glanced at the headline of the Daily Prophet:  
  
DEATH MARK FOUND OVER FOURTEEN WIZARDING HOUSES; MINISTRY FEARS ROUGH TIMES AHEAD.  
  
"What?" Lily piped up from where she was sitting. She'd notice the looks on Remus and James's faces; like someone had just told them they failed all of their N.E.W.T.s.  
  
"Well, maybe you should look," James said, addressing the whole troupe and holding up the paper. They read it silently, faces falling. They sat and stared in silence for a good long time, thinking about their families and wondering if they were safe; thinking about the families that died and wondering who they were. It was a terror like none other, to think that so many people could die while they were safe here; their loved ones could die and they wouldn't know.  
  
"Does it say where you-know-who attacked?" Elisabeth asked softly. Remus glanced down at the paper and skimmed the article.  
  
"Near London, but it was a mostly wizarding town."  
  
After another moment of silence, James cleared his throat and said, "Well, being depressed about it isn't going to help us all very much."  
  
"But what if something happened to one of our families?" Julia asked. It was hard for even her to be optimistic.  
  
"We wouldn't be able to do anything about it," Sirius said, though it was more to himself than to Julia.  
  
James thought about this for a bit. It wasn't fair that one bad wizard could cause so much pain and suffering. If only there was a way to stop him.  
  
"Well, let's get off this subject then. What do you say we go outside a bit later and get some fresh air?" James suggested.  
  
"Great idea," Lily replied, and the others agreed. James smiled a bit; maybe he and Lily could catch some time alone later.  
  
***************  
  
A little after ten o'clock Sirius, Maggie, Julia, Elisabeth, Remus, Peter, James and Lily left the warmth of the school and strolled outside into the chilly air. It was a bit cold out to go without jackets, but the air felt nice all the same. Especially because it gave Lily and James an excuse to get closer to each other.  
  
As the group walked quickly in the cold, chattering away like little birds, Lily and James hung back a bit, until they were just far enough away to have their own conversation.  
  
"Hey Lil," James said when they'd reached their safe distance.  
  
"Hi," she replied, somewhat shyly and totally out-of-character for her. "Thanks for the dance last night."  
  
"My pleasure," James replied. "Too bad they don't have balls more often. It was fun."  
  
Lily laughed, "You must be the first guy in history to actually like going to dances."  
  
"No, Sirius was the first. Of course, I don't know if you want to call what he does dancing." They laughed together at that, for Sirius truly was an odd dancer.  
  
"So what have you guys planned for your Halloween prank?" Lily asked curiously a moment or so later.  
  
"Ah, I don't really know," James said, not fully telling the truth. They had an idea, but it involved the girls. He couldn't very well tell Lily and not ruin the prank.  
  
"Yeah right," Lily said, not buying it for a minute. Grinning, she said, "I bet the four of you still have you feathers a bit ruffled from our FABULOUS prank."  
  
James laughed in response, but he couldn't help thinking //So much for secrecy.//  
  
"Anyway, you'll all find out later," James ended the conversation. "So it's almost Thanksgiving weekend. Are you going home or what?"  
  
"Um, probably not," Lily said, her smile faltering for a second. "Petunia's dragging the folks out to spend dinner with her boyfriend Vernon, and she doesn't really want me there. Not that I'm upset about it."  
  
"Ah well, Petunia's always had a bit of lacking in the niceness area," James pointed out. "Not that we helped much, what with the tricks we used to play on her!"  
  
Lily laughed at that, her green eyes shining brightly. "Ooh, we were so horrible back then! But sometimes I wish I could dump a can of worms in her bed again. Or maybe put orange dye on her cat, like that time in kindergarten." James grinned.  
  
"Yeah, that was pretty great. One of my best ideas."  
  
"YOUR idea?" Lily protested, eyes glittering with humor. "I thought that up. It was bloody brilliant of me, too!"  
  
"You just think that, then," James teased, and Lily elbowed his arm in response. James laughed, saying, "Only joking, only joking."  
  
"But anyway, what are you doing for break?" Lily asked. They were walking along the lake now, and their friends were far ahead of them. It seemed Sirius was doing some step dancing in the mud, and the others laughed merrily to see him slip and fall, nearly crashing into the lake. Lily giggled.  
  
"Staying here," James said, smiling at Sirius's stupidity as he walked with Lily. "Mum and Dad think I'm safer from Voldemort here than anywhere else, so I'm staying for every break this year."  
  
"I was kinda planning on doing that, too. I'm actually a bit scared to go home," she admitted. "Since I'm Muggle-born and all."  
  
"Well, I'll keep you safe," James volunteered, and he put an arm around Lily. She smiled and her heart jumped; she definitely did not make any move to free herself. This was like heaven, to her, walking along the lake with James. She smiled a bit wider, and before she could stop herself she stepped closer to him, slipping her free arm around his waist.  
  
James thought to himself as they walked along the muddy shore. He should have expected Lily to be just as bold as himself after he put an arm around her, but somehow he hadn't figured that they would be so close together. He was getting kind of giddy with happiness from it all. Sure, he'd had girlfriends before this, but there was something about Lily-  
  
"Hey James?" Lily said, breaking the momentary silence that had fallen over them. Up above them a pair of birds chased each other around, tweeting cheerfully in the late morning light.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you remember that last dinner when we were kids, when we went out to London just like always?"  
  
"All too well," James said, remembering how strongly he'd missed Lily even seconds after she was gone.  
  
"Did you think we'd ever see each other again?"  
  
"No," James answered honestly. He tightened his arm around her a bit, as though he were afraid she may slip away from him as she had all those years ago.  
  
"Me neither," Lily commented. "But I'm really glad we found each other again."  
  
James stopped Lily and stood in front of her, putting both arms around her waist. She looked up at him and grinned, eyes sparkling in the sunlight.  
  
"I am, too, Lil," James said, blushing at the look she gave him. He was overcome with the urge to kiss her again, even more-so than before, but he fought it off, thinking it was too soon.  
  
Lily smiled up at James, a warm feeling all throughout her. Never, in all the years she'd known him, would she have guessed that she'd ever feel this way about James. Or that he would feel that way about her, as she was pretty sure he did.  
  
"Hey you two, if you get any closer they might suspend you for inappropriate behavior!" Sirius's voice drifted towards them from where the rest of the group had stopped about a quarter mile ahead, ears pink from the cold wind and grinning at Lily and James. Both blushing deeply, they let go of each other in a hurry and ran to catch up to the others. Lily'd never been more embarrassed.  
  
James thought silly, lovesick thoughts to himself as he and Lily caught up with their friends. He loved Lily more than he thought it possible to love anyone, though their dance together had just been last night. It seemed like it had all happened so fast, and at the same time like he'd loved her all his life.  
  
And as the group turned back to the castle, he caught Lily's eyes. They laughed at him from where she stood, as though the two of them shared a secret. James smiled at her, and he felt like nothing in the world could ever go wrong if he had Lily.  
  
Suddenly remembering how concerned she'd seemed earlier about her safety from Voldemort, James decided then and there that he would die trying to save her before he ever let Voldemort lay a hand on her.  
  
With that thought in mind, he followed his friends into the great hall for lunch.  
  
*******  
  
A/N: ahh my goodness, I can be so mushy! I guess that's not really a bad thing, depending on how you look at it! I know the Voldy stuff is kind of depressing but I need to set up the next chapter or so (no it has nothing to do with Lily or James or their families, but it effects the plot!) so bare with me, nothings gonna happen to our favourite couple!! Maybe they'll kiss next chapter, who knows-?  
  
Thanks a bunch to everyone who reviewed, I love you all!!!!!! A whole buncH!!!!! Sorry, I forget who it was that commented on the emerald, but shhhh! I've got big plans for that emerald, big ones indeed. You'll just have to wait and see what happens! Hehe! Luv, Cassi~ 


	7. An Owl At Midnight

A/N: *shakes head* a note to the reviewers asking about the emerald- the last chapter had a comment in the author's note about - I haven't forgotten about it, ive got mucho big plans for it. But u just gotta wait and see!!!!!!  
  
SEVEN-AN OWL AT MIDNIGHT  
  
James, Lily, Maggie, Sirius, Remus, Elisabeth, Peter, and Julia wandered the corridors later that night. They were making more noise than they perhaps should have been, but it wasn't yet late enough for them to be in trouble for being out of bed.  
  
Outside the grounds had frozen, the now hard footprints making trip- holes in the mud. The sky was misty; a cold, wet mist that sent shivers up their spines.  
  
But inside the castle it was warm, and the lanterns burned brightly in the hallways, sending light dancing merrily on the walls.  
  
The eight friends were walking in a close group, the girls thinking they were just killing time before bed. But the boys had other plans; later on they were going to get back at the girls for that awful prank they'd played earlier in the year.  
  
James and Lily were both making an effort to keep up with their friends, and not spend too much time talking with just one another; they were still slightly embarrassed about earlier that day. Then again, that didn't mean they wouldn't take the chance to ditch down a corridor and walk alone, should the opportunity present itself.  
  
"D'you know, I think it would be nice if the group of us went somewhere Christmas break," Julia said after a break in the conversation. "Nowhere crazy, like the states or something- but how about if we went to Paris for a night?"  
  
"Um, Julia? That IS crazy," Maggie said, raising her eyebrows. "How would we pay for it? What about getting there and back? And honestly, eight seventeen year olds alone in a hotel-"  
  
"Okay, okay," Julia interrupted, throwing her hands up. "Sorry I suggested it. But it would be fun, wouldn't it?"  
  
"Yeah," Lily and James said in unison, and the others burst out laughing as James and Lily blushed. They'd both been thinking along the same lines; a week together without teachers or parents watching them.  
  
"Maybe we shouldn't, we don't know what these two will get up to," Sirius said, gesturing at Lily and James. The others laughed again, encouraging Sirius, so he continued, "I mean, the way you two have been acting-"  
  
"Shut it, Sirius," James said, and Lily had to laugh along with the others at the tone of warning in his voice. He'd obviously just confirmed their suspicions.  
  
Not that he was thinking about jumping into bed with Lily, like he had with some of his previous girlfriends; this was quite the opposite. He was content just to be around her-  
  
"-you and Maggie we should be keeping an eye on," Lily was saying, and from the red in Sirius's face James decided Lily had just got back at Sirius. As the group sniggered at Lily's comeback, James couldn't help but notice Sirius and Maggie glance at one another and look away quickly.  
  
Interesting.  
  
"Well, anyway," Remus said, feeling sorry for his tortured best friends and changing the subject, "We've got exams to worry about first."  
  
"Oy, don't remind me," Julia groaned. "I hate studying."  
  
"At least we haven't got as much pressure on us to do well as James and Lily do. Head boy and girl, have to set an example you know," Elisabeth said, looking genuinely glad.  
  
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me," James said, making a face. They laughed.  
  
"Luckily we don't have to do many things very differently," Lily said. "I mean, besides the exams. Scold a few prefects, use their nice lavatory, roam the halls after lights out, skip class to talk to the headmaster-"  
  
"Okay, okay," Elisabeth said, holding a hand up to stop her friend. "You're making Sirius wish for the first time that he was head boy!" Sirius's eyes had definitely taken a dreamy look to them after that comment of "roam the halls after dark." The others laughed again.  
  
By now the group had reached the third floor corridor, and were walking along a hallway that looked out over a courtyard. Despite their attempts not to James and Lily had ended up walking next to each other, and quite closely at that. When the others weren't paying attention, Lily slipped her hand into James's. She grinned back when he smiled at her.  
  
"I'm bored of walking," Peter, who'd been quiet until now, announced. "Let's go back to the common room and play a round of Exploding Snap."  
  
"I'm in," Remus said; he, too, was bored of walking around.  
  
"Okay," the other's agreed, and they headed for the common room, the boys eagerly anticipating their prank.  
  
********  
  
The Gryffindor common room was brightly lit, and combined with the scarlet red and golden tapestries the room was a very cozy place. The crackling and snapping fire in the fireplace was burning away as if it'd just been lit. Impossible though, it was nearly ten o'clock and the house elves lit the fires around five.  
  
The group of seventh years quickly settled onto the couch and armchairs surrounding a low table in front of the fireplace. The only other students in the room were a few fifth and sixth years sitting at tables in the back, bent over books and astronomy charts as they hurried to finish their homework.  
  
Sirius pulled an Exploding Snap deck from his robes and took care of dealing cards out, while talking in a low voice to Maggie, who was grinning.  
  
Lily and James were sitting next to each other on the couch, their legs touching and James's arm across the back of the couch, somewhat around Lily. Julia was sitting on Lily's other side, shooting her friend smiles to tease her about James. Lily grinned as she rolled her eyes in response. She leaned in to James a little bit, and he smiled, looking at the floor. He was kind of embarrassed, but it wasn't exactly a bad feeling. Julia covered her hand to hide a giggle at her friends.  
  
As they began playing their game, Remus couldn't help but bring up a conversation from earlier that day.  
  
"It's scary isn't it," he said, and the others looked at him curiously.  
  
"Sorry, what is?" Elisabeth asked after a moment. Remus took his turn before saying, "You-know-who. I mean, how do we know what he's doing right now? What if he's out killing more witches or wizards? What if he's plotting some sort of mass murder against muggle-borns?" James tightened his arm around Lily at this, and she leaned in to him even more.  
  
"Remus, honestly, do you have to be so depressing?" Elisabeth asked, taking her turn.  
  
"Yeah," Remus responded, looking at Elisabeth evenly. "He's crazy- what if He tried to get into Hogwarts? You can't just ignore it, what if something happens to us? To our families?"  
  
"I think Remus is right," Sirius said, serious for one of the few times in his life. "Like Dumbledore said at closing feast last year, 'there's dark times ahead.' Who knows where we'll all be in ten years? What if we're in hiding? What if we've got nothing left but friends, because our family and possessions have been destroyed? What if he kills one of us?"  
  
This whole little speech was so out of character for Sirius that the others fell silent, but that wasn't the only reason. What he'd said was a good point- where WOULD they all be in ten years? Twenty years? Would they have nothing left but their friendships? Would they have even that? Would they be dead?  
  
Peter was particularly quiet after this, thinking. A new question had entered his mind, one that he was scared to answer. What would he do if Voldemort gained so much power that he ruled over most of the wizarding world? Would he join him? Or stay loyal to his friends?  
  
James sat silently, his arm still protectively wrapped around Lily. He liked to think he'd still be alive in twenty years, but Remus was right. None of them were particularly sure what they'd be doing.  
  
After a long while of silence, in which everyone tried to imagine what they'd be doing in the future, Maggie cleared her throat and said, "Well, it does us no good to worry about it. Whatever happens, happens. We can't change it."  
  
"But maybe we can," James said, and the others looked at him curiously.  
  
"We could become Aurors," James pressed on. "Or spies. Or start an order against him, like a band of anti-Voldemort supporters."  
  
"Yeah but James, being an Auror is such hard job. It's impossible to train for, endless hours of bookwork- just look at Frank Longbottom, that fifth year who's forever writing things out and studying in the common room and library. It's too late for any of us to try that," Elisabeth pointed out sensibly. "Not to crush anyone's hopes," she added after a moment, and a couple of them smiled faintly.  
  
"But we could still start some sort of Anti-Voldemort group," James said. It was sounding better and better to him; if he really did start something like that, then they could have a network of spies working against Voldemort- disguising themselves and sneaking in to his highest groups of death eaters.  
  
"I like that idea," Lily put in. "It might work really, really well."  
  
"Or totally cave in on itself," Maggie said pessimistically. "Suppose you got a group like that together. How do you know people would stay loyal?"  
  
"Trust," James said. "It would only work if everyone knew each other very well, and there was a large amount of trust."  
  
The others thought about this, and as they did so the clock struck eleven. Their game of exploding snap lay forgotten on the table, and the few people that had been working had long since gone to bed.  
  
Clearing his throat, Sirius looked at his friends and said, "Great idea James, you'll have to do something to put it into action. But somehow I don't think it'll happen tonight. So how about if we all get out of this little conversation-thanks to Remus-and have a bit of FUN?"  
  
Catching on to what he meant by fun, Peter and Remus pushed aside thoughts of Voldemort and grinned; at midnight they would put their plan into action. They just had to keep the girls up a bit later.  
  
James was also happily anticipating their prank, but he was less quick to get his mind off of Voldemort. He liked his plan, and one day he really was going to start an organization like that.  
  
Lily nudged James gently with her elbow as the game resumed, Julia, Peter, Elisabeth, Maggie, Remus and Sirius laughing as Peter was beaten badly by Remus.  
  
"You okay?" Lily asked softly, and James nodded.  
  
"You?"  
  
"Yeah. Just, you know, this Voldemort stuff- what about my family James? I'm worried."  
  
James pulled Lily closer, closing the small space that had still been between them, and she rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
"It'll be all right, Lil," he said.  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"It will."  
  
For the next half-hour the eight of them happily played their game, though Peter was upset when he got out. At eleven thirty the boys began itching to pull their prank- but it was necessary they wait until twelve, or it wouldn't work.  
  
At about eleven-forty five the sound of someone yelling in the corridor outside the portrait hole startled the group, and James and Lily jumped up to see what was going on. As head boy and head girl they were expected to put a stop to any rule-breaking, and being out in the halls at night was definitely not following the rules.  
  
Pushing the portrait hole open and hurrying into the hall, there was absolutely no one in sight. Confused, they split up and walked to the end of the corridor, checking down the adjoining halls.  
  
As James turned to shake his head, signaling to Lily that there was no one down that corridor, he saw who'd made the noise and groaned. Lily looked up and noticed, too, and the look on her face was one of dislike.  
  
Peeves was floating in the air above the portrait hole, singing a dirty little rhyme.  
  
"Peeves," James said, approaching the poltergeist, "go away. Do I have to go find the Bloody Baron?"  
  
"Sleeping, the Bloody Baron is, I saw him myself," Peeves cackled, abandoning his rhyme and flipping upside-down to look at James. "But don't worry, Mr. Bighead boy, sir, I'll not stay long. I've just finished up in the charms classroom, and I'm off to see the dungeons. But you won't go anywhere for a long time!" Sniggering loudly, Peeves pointed at the portrait hole, where the picture of the fat lady had swung back into place.  
  
But the fat lady was gone, probably off visiting her friend Violet.  
  
"Rotten luck," Peeves said very un-convincingly, and snapped his fingers. "Well, I'm off!"  
  
With a whoosh and a rude noise, he was off down the corridor at the far end of the hall. Lily had reached James by now, and, looking at the empty portrait, she sighed.  
  
"Well, looks like we're spending the night out here!" she said, and James grinned at her.  
  
"Won't Sirius have fun with that," James said, and Lily laughed. Deciding it was best to wait for the fat lady to get back rather than try to knock (they wouldn't get anywhere, their friends were making too much noise to hear them at the entrance), the two of them stood near the wall, talking together.  
  
A minute or two later, when they'd fallen silent, James cleared his throat and said, "You're lucky we're not in there, anyway."  
  
"Oh?" Lily asked curiously. "And why not?"  
  
James figured he could tell her about their prank, the fat lady may not be back by then. And no one would go looking for them, they'd probably just assume James and Lily had gone off to bring the troublemaker that was in the hallway to Dumbledore.  
  
"Oh, just a little prank," James said, grinning. "To get you guys back."  
  
"Really?" Lily asked, smiling back at him. "Good luck topping ours, that was bloody brilliant."  
  
"It was all right," James replied, and Lily laughed. He couldn't help but add, "But it's fine with me we're not in there, I was kind of hoping we could get some time alone."  
  
"Yeah, me too," Lily admitted, turning slightly pink and smiling. "I was gonna make sure we did, actually."  
  
"And just how were you going to do that?"  
  
"Tell you we had to discuss some Head Boy / Head Girl business."  
  
"Discuss things, is that what you think we should do?"  
  
"Of course not," Lily said. "I was thinking something more like this."  
  
And before either of them realized Lily had the nerve to do it, she'd slipped her arms around James and kissed him, full on the lips and everything. James put his arms around Lily, too, surprised but thinking happy thoughts to himself as they kissed in the dim corridor.  
  
It was a sweet kiss and they stopped quite quickly, but neither let go of the other. James looked into Lily's green eyes; they were sparkling and dancing merrily, and Lily smiled slightly at him. This time she didn't blush a bit- she just held his gaze.  
  
James gently pulled Lily closer, so that their bodies were touching, and kissed her again. This time it was a lot longer, both of them lost in the moment. Eyes closed and arms tightly around each other, neither of them seemed aware of where they were or what was happening. All that mattered right now was that they were together, finally, like they were meant to be.  
  
It could have been a minute, it could have been an hour; they wouldn't know, but eventually they broke apart again, their cheeks slightly flushed and arms still around each other lovingly. James brushed a strand of Lily's auburn hair from her face and whispered, "Definitely better than discussion."  
  
Lily grinned and whispered back, "Definitely."  
  
They stood together like that another moment or so, reluctant to let go but suddenly more aware of the time and the fact that they were still in the corridor.  
  
"It's gone quiet in there," Lily said a moment later as they finally broke apart, turning towards the portrait hole. "We could knock."  
  
"Or we could just stay out here," James said, slipping an arm around Lily's waist. She smiled and faced him as she put her arms around his waist, saying playfully, "Well, that's fine with me, if you want-"  
  
But before anything else could happen there was the sound of rushing footsteps coming towards the portrait hole. The painting banged open, and, startled, Lily and James turned to see what was going on.  
  
Peter was standing silhouetted in the entranceway, panting slightly and saying, "There you are, James, Lily, come quick! An owl just came, they're all up in our dormitory comforting him-"  
  
"Peter, slow down, what's going on?" James asked, letting go of Lily as the two of them hurried quickly towards their friend.  
  
"It's you-know-who," Peter said urgently, his beady little eyes round in fear. "He's killed Remus's parents."  
  
*****************  
  
A/N: Ahh, they kissed!!! *Sigh* so sweet- okay sorry, carried away there! :- ) and also now u know why I kept talking about Voldy, and who the Order of the Phoenix is going to be started by - - - Eeee, so many more things to continue, I guess I'll just have to hurry with the next chapter! Review Review Review, give me feedbacK!!!!!!!! I'll love you forever!!!!!!!! Luv, Cassi~ 


	8. A Trip to the Kitchens

CHAPTER EIGHT-A RAY OF LIGHT  
  
The seventh years didn't sleep that night. Nor did they leave the boys' dormitory until nearly one o'clock the next afternoon, to go get food to support them, for they hadn't realized how hungry they were.  
  
The night before Peter had led James and Lily quickly up the stairs to where Remus was sitting on his bed, staring blankly at a letter that he held in his hands. There was complete silence in the room. Elisabeth had an arm around him, trying to comfort him, and Julia was sitting on his other side, patting his hand sadly and trying to come up with something good to say.  
  
But she couldn't think of a thing. None of them could.  
  
It was ironic, really, that Remus had been so concerned about Voldemort- and here he'd gone and murdered Remus's parents. Ironic in a really and completely NOT funny way.  
  
Lily, James and Peter entered the boys' dormitory quietly, taking in the scene before them. Even Sirius was solemn, and he sat across the room from Remus, watching his friend carefully. Though his eyes were bloodshot and felt as if they were burning from unshed tears, Remus didn't cry.  
  
"Remus," Lily said softly as she kneeled in front of him on the floor. Remus didn't look up, but instead, without even moving his eyes of the paper, said in an unfeeling tone, "I've got nothing left. No home. No family. No money."  
  
"What about your parents' Gringotts vault?"  
  
"The key was in the house. There is no more house," his voice sounded dull. Lily looked back behind her, at where James stood by the door, and he raised his eyebrows at her, looking sad. She nodded slightly and turned back to Remus.  
  
"You could give them your name," Elisabeth suggested in a hushed tone. "Maybe if you told them what happened-" Remus shook his head slowly, staring still at the paper. A few tears fell onto the parchment, blurring a couple letters as the water expanded on the page.  
  
"Wouldn't do any good- I have no identification. It was all destroyed."  
  
The others sat quiet and still, watching Remus carefully. Lily, who was still kneeling in front of him, felt like a huge weight had come over her heart, like she couldn't ever be happy again. Even if it wasn't her family- it was Remus's, her dear friend; and it made Voldemort seem that much more realistic.  
  
James stood by the doorway, leaning against the wall, staring at nothing in particular. What would happen to Remus now? Where would he go?  
  
He couldn't stand being here at school, helpless, while people his friend loved- people James knew well - died.  
  
"Suppose someone should go tell Dumbledore?" Maggie suggested nearly fifteen minutes later. She was sitting next to Sirius, on Sirius's bed. They hadn't realized it, but in their sadness for Remus and for his family they had ended up leaning against each other, as though that was the only way they could keep from breaking down and crying.  
  
"In the morning," Julia suggested, eyeing Remus and shaking her head at Maggie. Remus continued to stare at the paper. But a thought had just occurred to him, a dreadful thought that he didn't think he could handle. He had to express it, somehow, but the only thing he could choke out without breaking down into a hysterical crying fit was, "What about full moons?"  
  
The boys looked up sharply at each other, realizing the importance of that. Remus's parents had always been responsible for him when the full moon came around - what would he do now in the summers to be sure he couldn't hurt anything?  
  
"What about them?" Elisabeth asked curiously. She, Lily, Julia and Maggie looked at their male friends questioningly, confused. James glanced at Remus, and to his surprise, his friend looked up for the first time since he'd gotten the letter.  
  
"I'm a werewolf," Remus said calmly, evenly; but a few more tears slid down his cheek.  
  
The room went very still. As a first reaction, Elisabeth had to fight hard to keep from pulling her arm from around Remus. Julia and Lily didn't move, but stared at each other in awe. Maggie looked at Sirius, as though asking for confirmation, and Sirius nodded once, putting his hand on Maggie's to reassure her that it was all right.  
  
"Oh," Julia said after a moment or so. Elisabeth was still stunned, kind of frightened, too. How could Remus be a werewolf? He wouldn't be allowed on school grounds, would he? And what did they do with him when he transformed?  
  
"So are you guys going to hate me now?" Remus asked, trying to sound as if he was joking though he clearly wasn't. Lily, Julia and Maggie recovered quickly, saying, "Oh, God no Remus, we love you so much, how could we hate you?"  
  
"A werewolf?" Elisabeth repeated, and the others fell dead silent. Peter, who was sitting at the foot of Remus's bed, on the floor, looked up at Elisabeth.  
  
"How come you never told us?" she asked, and the others let out a breath that they hadn't realized they'd been holding. They'd been sure for a moment that Elisabeth was going to take this the wrong way.  
  
"What if someone else found out? I'd probably have to leave the school," Remus said, and Elisabeth turned to meet his gaze. But when she saw the look in his eyes - like there was nothing in him but emptiness anymore- Elisabeth burst out crying and flung her arms around Remus, saying, "Oh Remus, we'd never tell. We love you so much, all of us, we'll always be here for you-"  
  
The rest of them gathered around Remus, repeating things similar to what Elisabeth was bawling about and comforting Sirius. Julia hugged him, too, and made room for the others to sit on the bed.  
  
"Thanks," Remus said, his voice quivering. "I'm glad I've got you guys." And thinking about all the things his parents would miss; his graduation from Hogwarts, his first job, his wife and kids - he broke down crying.  
  
Elisabeth held Remus for nearly two hours, until he'd cried himself out.  
  
***********  
  
The next day at about one o'clock, when Remus had finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, James and Lily went quietly downstairs to find Dumbledore, as well as get a bit of food for the others. Maggie and Peter were also asleep upstairs, Maggie in Sirius's arms and Peter sprawled out on the floor, taking up a large amount of room.  
  
As they reached the great hall Lily and James were disappointed to discover that lunch was over, but James new just what to do.  
  
"Come on," he said, taking Lily's hand and pulling her down a hallway. Stopping in front of a large portrait of a bowl of fruit, he started tickling a few places on the picture. Lily looked down both ends of the hall, wondering what in the world James was doing.  
  
In a moment a piece of fruit burst out laughing and the portrait swung aside. James turned and grinned, holding his hand out to Lily again.  
  
"Shall we?" he asked, and pulled her in.  
  
The kitchens at Hogwarts were like nothing Lily had ever seen. Four tables set up just below the real ones in the great hall had plates on them still, covered with food debris. Hundreds of house elves roamed around the brightly lit kitchen, scurrying back and forth from the stoves to the sinks; great stone sinks that Lily could easily have stood in.  
  
"Hey all," James called out. A bunch of the house elves looked up, and one squeaked, "James Potter!"  
  
"James Potter?" A few of the others exclaimed, excited, and hurried forward with the first to greet James.  
  
"Whoa," Lily expressed herself. James laughed.  
  
"Hello, Tilly," James said to the house elf that had called out to him. "How goes? Any food for us around here?"  
  
"Oh James Potter is so kind, sir, to ask how I is! Yes sir, yes, we have lots of food, don't we?" She rounded on the other house elves like an angry mother does to her children, hands on her hips.  
  
"Does you not hear Mr. James Potter askin us for some food?" she scolded, and the others scampered away to come up with a few baskets full of food.  
  
"Why does James Potter visit us? And who is his girlfriend he bringed with him?"  
  
Lily blushed, but James grinned and said, "This is Lily. We need a bit of food because-" his smile faltered, but he continued - "Remus, is, er, sad. We haven't eaten since last night."  
  
"Oh! Poor Remus Lupin, we do not wish for him to be sad! Mossy," Tilly stopped a house elf. "Fix us up some sweets, Mr. Remus is sad!"  
  
"Oh dear me!" Mossy exclaimed, and she hurried away to the cupboards.  
  
As she retreated, the others that Tilly had sent away returned with piles of chicken legs and biscuits, vegetables and fruit.  
  
"Here you is, James Potter and Mr.'s girlfriend," a particularly small one squeaked out. James grinned again, and Lily couldn't help but notice James didn't correct the little elf. So maybe they were both thinking the same thing, though they hadn't technically discussed it- they were boyfriend and girlfriend.  
  
"Thanks, all," James said, taking the baskets and handing a few to Lily. "We should go," he said. "Can't keep Remus waiting."  
  
"Thank you for visiting us James Potter!" Tilly exclaimed, following them to the portrait as they struggled along with the baskets. "I hope we is giving you enough food!" she said, looking anxious. She pulled at her ears nervously as James smiled and said, "Thanks Tilly, I think you've given us enough. See you later."  
  
"Good-bye James Potter! Good-bye!"  
  
When the portrait closed behind them James couldn't help but burst into a round of laughter at the bewildered look Lily gave him.  
  
"Crazy lot, those elves are. They'd give us half the food in the school if we asked for it," he said as they walked towards Dumbledore's office. They'd leave the food just outside the doorway at the top of the stairs by his office. The stone gargoyle would keep anyone from trying to take it.  
  
"They were-cool," Lily decided, and she giggled a bit. "I really wasn't expecting that is all, I've rarely seen a house elf up close. They like working in the kitchens?"  
  
"Oh yeah, they have a real party in there," James said, shaking the baskets. "See what I mean?"  
  
"Yeah," Lily laughed. They'd reached the gargoyle entrance to Dumbledore's office.  
  
"Pumpkin Fizz," James said, and the gargoyle sprang aside to reveal a spiraling staircase leading up to the headmaster's office. As they reached the top they dumped the food to either side of the door and knocked.  
  
"Enter," they heard Dumbledore's voice from inside. Lily reached out to the huge iron doorknob and pushed the door open.  
  
Dumbledore's office was large and circular, with another spiral staircase leading up to his room. There were objects of all sorts around the walls; brightly shining boxes and humming bird cages that were, curiously enough, empty. Old books sat on sideways and tilted looking shelves, giving the effect that you were standing at an angle.  
  
Dumbledore sat behind a great wooden desk, his Phoenix, Fawkes, on a stand next to him. Apparently Fawkes had already burst into flame this term because his coat was sleek and shiny, his bright red feathers looking as though he'd just taken a nice bath.  
  
Dumbledore smiled at the Head Boy and Girl as they entered his office. He had a feeling why they were here- he himself had received an owl from the Ministry informing him of Remus's parents' deaths.  
  
"Sit," he said, gesturing to two squashy armchairs in front of him. Lily and James sat down eagerly; they could easily have fallen asleep there, but they were running on a sort of auto-pilot by this point.  
  
"I have heard, of course, about Remus's parents," Dumbledore said, not bothering with the small talk as usual. He found things got done much more quickly that way. "And how is he doing?"  
  
"I think better," Lily volunteered her opinion. "He had a good cry, got things out."  
  
"Yes, often that is the quickest way to relieve a feeling of stress. The rest of this year is going to be particularly hard on Mr. Lupin, and I'm sure you and his other friends will help him out when he is in need."  
  
"Of course," James said. He'd thought that was obvious.  
  
"And with his-ah-MONTHLY afflictions," Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows as both James and Lily nodded, "He'll need help for those too, also. Not that I expect you to help, it would be much too dangerous. But do you suppose Mr. Lupin would mind much if he stayed around here in the summers?"  
  
"I'm sure he wouldn't," James said confidently. "Though maybe not ALL summer-"  
  
"Of course," Dumbledore said, waving a hand. "I've decided perhaps I should make an announcement to the school to keep the students calm, once word of this gets out things may take a bit of a turn for awhile. How would the two of you feel about helping out with some of the younger students who are feeling a bit scared?"  
  
"I wouldn't mind," Lily said determinedly, and James was a bit surprised at the tone of her voice. She'd been so worried about Voldemort earlier, but she seemed to be getting along much better now. Or maybe she thought this would be a good way to deal with it.  
  
"James?"  
  
"I wouldn't either, professor," James responded sincerely.  
  
Dumbledore smiled, "Thank you. Now unless you had anything else on your minds, I've got a meeting with the Minister of Magic that I must attend."  
  
James was suddenly reminded of his earlier idea for an anti-Voldemort group. He thought about suggesting it to Dumbledore, but he wanted a bit more time to think about it.  
  
"No, professor," he said, and Dumbledore nodded once.  
  
"Off you go, then."  
  
As he and Lily escorted themselves out, he caught sight of Fawkes. He looked very peaceful sitting there, cocking his head to one side and singing softly.  
  
Peaceful.James thought of his earlier idea. A phoenix would be a good symbol of what they would be fighting for. The Order of the Phoenix. He liked it.  
  
Lily sighed as they closed the door to Dumbledore's office and picked up their baskets of food. They headed downstairs as Lily said, "James, I really wish this hadn't happened to poor Remus. He was so worried before."  
  
"I know," James agreed, stepping out into the corridor and turning towards the hall leading to the Gryffindor Tower. "But it did, and we can't change it."  
  
"Yeah," Lily said softly. James looked at her and felt his heart give a little tug. He loved her so, so much, and she was being so brave about this; putting her personal fears aside and just hoping for Remus to feel better.  
  
Lily looked up and caught James's eye. She smiled at him playfully and said, "I know what you're thinking but you better not do it. If you kiss me now I might not ever let you stop."  
  
James blushed at how accurately she'd read his mind but stopped her anyway, putting the baskets of food down. She followed suit and he wrapped his arms around her waist, grinning and saying, "Well, it's fine with ME if we never stop-"  
  
"You asked for it." Lily grinned and kissed James, putting her arms around him and pulling him a bit closer. He smiled inwardly and kissed her back, forgetting for a happy moment all about Remus and his troubles. For right now he could only think about how much he loved Lily.  
  
Lily allowed herself to get a bit carried away this time, kissing James. She felt the need to get closer to him a bit quickly, though she couldn't really think of why. All she knew was the way they were kissing right now was definitely not good head girl/ head boy behavior. Have to set an example and all that.  
  
James pulled back a bit later, eyes sparkling. Lily couldn't help but laugh at him, her own greens eyes shining happily at James as they stood together in the hallway.  
  
"Do we really have to go back up and give them food? Can't we just hide someplace for awhile?" James complained as they slowly let go of each other and picked up their food baskets.  
  
"Yes," Lily scolded him, though she looped an arm through his to make him feel better. "Now come on, you, they're probably waking up about now."  
  
James walked close to Lily as they walked back up to Gryffindor, thinking about how both of their kisses so far had either been interrupted or on a time limit. That just wouldn't do.  
  
Sometime soon he'd have to convince Lily to take a walk somewhere, away from everybody else. It wouldn't take much convincing though; Lily was just as eager to be alone with him.  
  
They'd just have to wait for the right moment.  
  
************************** A/N: Wow sorry it took me awhile on this, I had writers block but now I've got sort of an idea where to go with the next chapter, so hopefully next time it won't be as long! Definitely a depressing to crazy to happy chapter, I tried to get a bit in for all u reader peoples so I'd appreciate it if you REVIEW!!!!!!! Thanks a TON to every single person who's reviewed so far, I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It means a lot!!!!! So keep reviewing ;-) Luv, Cassi~ 


	9. Happy Christmas, Lil

(A/N yes I know that I said thanksgiving holidays in a previous chapter but as it was pointed out to me they do no HAVE thanksgiving in England.- whoops! - so im changing it to Christmas Hols)  
  
CHAPTER NINE- HAPPY CHRISTMAS, LIL  
  
"Staying for the hols?" Sirius asked the group as they exited the Great Hall one cold, snowy winter morning. The list of students staying was posted beside the door to the Hall, and everyone stopped by it to sign if they were staying. "Only a week left to decide."  
  
"I'm staying," Remus said. He'd slowly returned to his almost normal self in the past six weeks or so, though the seventh-year Gryffindors were especially careful not to mention anything about parents or Voldemort during that time. Still, they exchanged uneasy glances as Remus said this, but he shrugged his shoulders and said, "What? I always stay, it's not going to be odd or anything."  
  
Apparently this was an acceptable answer for the group kept on talking.  
  
"We're going to France AGAIN," Maggie said, rolling her eyes and sighing. "Honestly, you'd think we weren't JUST there!"  
  
"Not that France isn't such the best," Julia put in, twirling a strand of her blond hair. "But honestly, two holidays in France in a row? I don't know if I could stand it."  
  
"My mum's making me come home, too," Peter put in. "She thinks I'm not getting enough to eat around here."  
  
No one dared say a thing for fear they'd die laughing if they opened their mouths. Honestly, Peter not getting enough to eat-  
  
"What?" Peter asked when the others suddenly looking at the floor, smirking and avoiding everyone else's eyes. In a moment Elisabeth, who usually felt bad for Peter and tried to refrain from teasing him, said, "That's great Peter, I hope you have fun at home.  
  
"I've got to go home, too," she continued. "Mum and Dad are inviting all forty-seven of my cousins over. I told her she's mad, but no." Elisabeth assumed a very high-pitched voice and quoted her mother, "'Honestly, Elisabeth, you'd think you'd have a little more respect for your mother's judgment. I know what I'm doing.'"  
  
The others burst into a round of laughter, causing a group of third- year Hufflepuffs that were heading out the door to look curiously at them.  
  
"I'm leaving, too," Sirius announced when they'd calmed down. "Got to go greet my brother Tom, he's apparating in from Ireland. Nearly broke his leg the other week helping out at a Quidditch match."  
  
"Really, how?" asked Maggie curiously.  
  
"The bloody beater hit a bludger at Tom when he was watching practice. Tom said it was because the beater's girlfriend tried to get with Tom, but I think he left out some details."  
  
The others weren't sure whether to laugh or say, "Well, that's too bad," but they were saved when Sirius continued on, saying, "So it looks like just you three are staying."  
  
Lily, Remus, and James nodded; none of them usually went home over the holidays if they could help it, and this year was no exception.  
  
"Lily gets the dorm all to herself," Elisabeth pointed out somewhat jealously. The four of them found the dorm to be quite cramped for four teenage girls to share. Lily grinned evily and responded, "Yep."  
  
"Unless James shares it with her," Sirius said mischievously.  
  
"Shut it, you." James blushed as the others broke into peals of laughter, Lily included. You had to laugh to see James Potter blush like a little second-year.  
  
"Just don't sleep in my bed," Maggie said, but Sirius cut in by wriggling his eyebrows and saying, "Oh, they'll just need one bed."  
  
This time Lily blushed too.  
  
"Oh, give it a rest," Julia said when she stopped giggling, though she still wore a silly sort of smile. "They've got so many excuses to be together and away from us that I'd think they shouldn't have to use the Christmas Hols as an excuse!"  
  
This was too much for Remus, Peter, Maggie, Sirius, and Elisabeth. Sirius nearly fell over as he gasped for breath, while Lily and James just looked on a bit awkwardly. James caught Lily's eye for a few seconds, but had to look away when he felt the colour rising in his cheeks again.  
  
"Oh come off it," Lily said after a moment. "Anyway, I'm bored standing around here and talking. Let's go out to the grounds and have ourselves a snowball fight."  
  
"Boys against girls!" Sirius declared as the group pushed the doors open. It was so cold in the school corridors at this time of year that they were all layered up already and had no need to fetch their cloaks.  
  
Outside soft snowflakes spiraled downward from a light grey sky. The grounds, which were covered with students enjoying the snow, were a bright white colour. Part of the lake had frozen over, and a group of fourth years boys had made a game of seeing how far they could walk out on the ice before it broke. Stupid, yes, but also hilariously funny when one would break through and need a drying charm to warm themselves up as they pulled themselves onto stable ice again.  
  
Julia, Maggie, Elisabeth, Lily, Sirius, James, Peter and Remus picked a spot out by the Quidditch field, each team rolling large boulders of snow to make a fort.  
  
"On three!" Sirius instructed. "One, two- Hey! Cheats!" He flung a large snowball at the giggling group of girls, who'd fired much too soon.  
  
Remus and James cheered as James hit Julia smack in the chest with such a force that she dropped the snowball she was holding.  
  
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, though she grinned and threw one back at them. It burst apart on the top of Remus's head, and as James stood pointing and laughing Lily nailed him on the ear.  
  
"Hey!" James protested, as Lily and Julia grinned at each other. He bent over to scoop up a handful of snow, sending it flying towards Lily. But his aim was way off, and instead he hit Maggie.  
  
"James!" she yelled. She picked up a handful of snow and hurled it at James, who stepped out of the way and let it hit Sirius, who'd been using James as a shield while he shaped some nice snowballs.  
  
"So that's how its gonna be, Maggie?" Sirius exclaimed, taking a snowball in each hand and pitching them at his ex one after the other. She stuck out her tongue and ducked, though one of them clipped her shoulder.  
  
"Hah!" Sirius exclaimed, then, "Oy!" Elisabeth, who'd been aiming at Peter, got Sirius on the back of his neck, melting snow trickling in a cold stream down the back of his robes.  
  
"You asked for it!" Sirius grabbed as much snow as he possibly could and ran over to the girls' side, bounding over their fort and shoving the snow at Maggie. Remus, Peter, and James were at his side in a heartbeat, helping out by tackling Maggie into the snow. But Lily, Elisabeth, and Julia had other plans. With a great push, they knocked Peter over. He shrieked from the cold but grinned, getting up to chase after Elisabeth. Remus tried to get Julia with a snowball, but missed. She laughed and pushed him backwards over the fort, but not before he could grab her robes and pull her down with him.  
  
Lily and James, of course, were having their own little snowball fight / wrestling match in the snow. Lily gathered a huge amount of snow and, eyes glinting with a thousand little specks of happiness, threw it at James. But he dove out of the way, knocking Lily over as he did so.  
  
"Hey, this seems familiar," James said, blushing a bit and grinning as he lay pretty much on top of Lily. She laughed; she, too, remembered that day that they'd taken the boys' clothes and James had tackled her-  
  
"I wanted to kiss you that day," James couldn't help but admit, saying the words as they came to his mind. Lily laughed and said, "So kiss me now, then."  
  
James grinned and kissed Lily. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him a bit closer, closing her eyes. James's heart beat a bit faster and he, too, shut his eyes. Completely ignoring the cold, Lily smiled inwardly as she kissed James. She loved him more than practically anything, and she pulled him even closer as she thought this, really getting into the kiss now. James was more than willing to comply.  
  
"Oy, get a load of these two," Sirius couldn't help but exclaim loudly. Julia, Maggie, Peter, Remus and Elisabeth all looked at what Sirius was exclaiming about. Peter and Sirius began laughing madly, and Julia, Maggie, and Elisabeth smiled at their friends, though they couldn't help but giggle a bit. Remus rolled his eyes and said, "Oh Sirius leave them alone, we had to watch you and Maggie snog quite a bit, you know." Needless to say, Sirius and Maggie's cheeks flushed bright red.  
  
James and Lily had broken abruptly apart as Sirius yelled, and were now sitting in the snow next to each other, blushing furiously and even giggling a bit themselves.  
  
"Sorry, got a bit carried away," James said brightly, his brown eyes shining.  
  
"We noticed!" Sirius exclaimed, and that set them all off again, even Lily and James. It took them all a while to calm down again, and when they had, they decided they'd spent enough time in the snow.  
  
"Let's go in and get a bit of hot cocoa," Remus suggested, shivering and pulling his wet robes more tightly around himself. To show their agreement the rest of them headed towards the castle.  
  
************************  
  
"Bye! Have a happy Christmas!" Remus, Lily and James called to their five best friends a week later as they boarded the carriages that would take them to the Hogwarts Express. "Write us!"  
  
"We will, don't have too much fun without us!" the others called, waving.  
  
"Oh, dahlings, I'll miss you so!" Sirius exclaimed dramatically, blowing kisses to James, Remus and Lily. All eight of the Gryffindor seventh-years laughed at this, and with a final wave they disappeared into the carriages and in moments were gone.  
  
Remus, Lily and James walked back into the castle together, glad to get out of the wind. The temperature had been dropping rapidly, and they'd be glad to get in front of the common room fireplace.  
  
But when they reached the common room, Remus turned to his two best friends and said, "I'm a bit tired, I think I'll go up to the dormitory and take a nap."  
  
Lily and James exchanged glances, and Lily asked, "Are you sure, Remus?"  
  
"Yeah, you two have fun. But I guess you'll have no problem with that," he grinned as he departed, walking quickly up the stone staircase. James and Lily looked at each other and laughed; true, they were good at making their own fun.  
  
The two settled onto the couch, James with an arm around Lily, enjoying the quietness of the empty common room. Only three other Gryffindors had stayed; a fifth year named Charlotte Johanson, a fourth year named Violet Patil, and a first year named John Creevy, who jumped at the sight of James and was constantly complimenting his Quidditch skills.  
  
"So, Lily, what do you want for Christmas?" James asked as they stared into the fire, resting.  
  
Lily smiled and said, "James, you don't have to get me anything."  
  
"All right, I don't," James said, and Lily looked up at him to catch him laughing. "Only joking. But really, I'm going to do something nice for you-but maybe you'll just have to wait and see."  
  
"Well maybe I just will, then," Lily said, smiling and leaning against James. "Besides, I already know what I'm going to do for your present."  
  
"That's nice," James said, trying to sound like he didn't care. "What is it?"  
  
"Not telling."  
  
"Please?" James begged.  
  
"No, come off it," Lily said, looking up at him and grinning. Her eyes were reflecting the firelight and seemed to be dancing. James smiled slightly.  
  
"What?" she asked, wondering what he was up to.  
  
"I love your eyes," James told her. "They're beautiful."  
  
Lily smiled. She wanted more than anything to tell him right there that she loved him, and that he was the sweetest guy she'd ever met - but she'd learned from past experiences that saying "I love you" too early was not a good thing. So instead she responded by sitting up a bit and kissing him softly. When she pulled back James had to fight hard to keep from telling her just how much he loved her. He was trying to wait a bit longer to tell her, they weren't even technically going out yet.  
  
The two of them stayed there the rest of the evening, talking about Voldemort and Remus's parents-  
  
"It's odd, don't you think, that it should happen to Remus when he'd been talking about it?"  
  
And about their own parents and families-  
  
"My mum misses yours a lot, she's forever talking about what a nice woman she was and how she wishes she could get some cooking advice from her."  
  
"So tell her to owl Mum now that she's used to owl post."  
  
And what they thought of doing after this year-  
  
"I'm definitely going into some sort of anti-Voldemort thing. I'll start my own group."  
  
"But how will you get a salary if you start a group like that?"  
  
"I'll do side jobs, and there's always my trust fund."  
  
They talked so long that the clock was striking one o'clock before either of them knew it.  
  
"One - o'clock!" Lily exclaimed through a yawn. "Best go to bed, I'm so tired!"  
  
"Yeah," James said, reluctantly getting up and holding out a hand to help Lily. She took it and stood up, though she didn't let go of his hand. James took her other hand and pulled her closer, kissing her quickly and saying, "Don't get too lonely tonight."  
  
"I don't think I will," Lily said, thoughts spinning. She'd suddenly remembered something Sirius had said earlier, and it was starting to sound good. The head girl part of her told her to go to bed RIGHT NOW, but the Lily that was in love with James was thinking something else.  
  
"Well, I suppose I could use - a little company," she said shyly, and James stared at her, as though unable to believe what he'd just heard.  
  
"Nothing like THAT," she said quickly, squeezing his hand in reassurance. "No way, not so soon."  
  
James stared a while longer while Lily shifted from foot to foot, trying not to get too nervous or jumpy.  
  
"You're serious?"  
  
"Yeah," Lily said. "But it's okay, I understand it'd be too weird-"  
  
"No, no," James said, smiling a bit. "I'd be happy to."  
  
Lily smiled back and kissed him quickly again, fighting against her urge to say "I love you."  
  
The two of them walked upstairs to Lily's dormitory, careful to be quiet as they passed the rooms in which the others were sleeping.  
  
"Sirius would have a field day if he knew about this," James muttered as Lily closed the door behind them. She laughed and said, "So, he just won't find out."  
  
"All right by me," James said, walking over to Lily's bed and sitting down. "So by company I'm taking it as I get to share your bed."  
  
"Erm-"  
  
"Too late to change your mind now," James said, kicking his shoes off and stretching out across her bed. He flipped over onto his side and grinned at her, patting the bed beside him. Lily grinned and crossed the room quickly, sitting down on the edge of the bed to take her own shoes off. James scooted a little to make room and she lay down next to him, propping her head up on her arm. James pulled his wand from his robes and quickly dimmed the lanterns.  
  
"Ohh, aren't you the romantic," Lily teased, and James smiled. "Anything for the girl I love," he thought, but restrained himself from saying it. Rather, he put an arm over her and pulled her closer. Lily turned to her other side, but hugged James's arms to her when he wrapped them around her.  
  
Lily, content to be lying there with James so close to her, closed her eyes. She loved him so much, really she did. She should just tell him, let him know now. But she was tired, and she was growing so much sleepier by the second that she could hardly speak. It was amazing how comfortable and safe she felt in James's arms.  
  
James thought he must have gone to heaven, because he couldn't think of anything better than lying here with Lily, the girl he'd loved, he realized, since they were just little kids. This was the same girl who'd played pranks with him; who he'd cried over when she moved; who he'd re-met at Hogwarts; who he'd spent the next seven years hanging around with; who he'd finally kissed in the corridor outside the portrait hole; who he'd finally realized that he loved and cared for more than he'd ever thought possible. She was perfect in every way, and he wanted so much to tell her that.  
  
But for now he'd just enjoy the feeling of being so close to her, holding her while she slept. He hoped this would become a regular thing sometime in the future, after Hogwarts. Secretly, so secretly that James barely let himself think about it, James planned on marrying Lily someday.  
  
However, that would come later. He tightened his arms around Lily a bit, and she sighed happily, nearing sleep. //Tell her you love her// he thought to himself. It would be the perfect time, and he would mean it with all his heart-  
  
"Hey Lil," he whispered softly. She sort of "Mm?"'d in response. James sighed, changing his mind. Not now, it was too late and she was too tired to probably even be paying close attention. Kissing the top of her head, which was just below his lips, James decided to wait. So instead he reached down and pulled the covers up over them, whispering softly, "Happy Christmas, Lil."  
  
*****************************  
  
A/N: yes?no?maybe? Review and tell me what you think!!!!!! Lots of fluffy love in this chapter I hope you liked! Next chapter I'm not so sure what'll happen, maybe a bit more fluff, but after that I've got a PLOT - gasp! - planned out, so enjoy the fluff now! Also, I need to know if you guys think Remus should date Julia, Elisabeth, or neither, so review and give your opinion! Lots of love to all of you who already reviewed, I love you to bits! And those of you who didn't- well, I'll just hope you review this time! Luv, Cassi~ 


	10. Love and Technicalities

CHAPTER TEN- LOVE AND TECHNICALITIES  
  
Christmas morning dawned cold and snowy, just the way Christmas should be. The tree in the common room was nicely decorated with candles that wouldn't burn the branches, fairies sitting and swinging from the branches in all shades of pink, blue, green, red, and orange, and lots of tinsel glittering in their light.  
  
"Merry Christmas!" Remus and James called to Lily as they bounded down the stairs from their dormitory. After that night that James and Lily had stayed in Lily's room, Remus had had a few things to say; so from then on, James slept in his own bed, much to Lily's disappointment.  
  
"Happy Christmas!" Lily called back to the boys from where she was talking to Violet Patil on the couch. Their presents lay unopened under the tree, as if they were waiting for the other Gryffindors to wake up.  
  
"What's all the yelling?" a tousle-haired John Creevy asked, standing at the foot of the dormitory stairs and rubbing his eyes. "Oy, presents!" he yelled, pouncing eagerly on the packages that lay beneath the tree. The others laughed and waited patiently for Charlotte Johanson to join them.  
  
"I love Christmas," Violet said happily, breathing deeply and sighing.  
  
"Me, too," Lily agreed. "Not so much the presents, just the whole feeling of it."  
  
"Exactly," Violet nodded, waving a hand at the tree. "Like that, for example. Did you ever see a more beautiful thing? And so clever, too, with fairies on the branches!"  
  
"Yeah," Remus nodded. Yawning, he settled into an armchair that faced the tree.  
  
"Been up long?" James asked Lily, sitting down on the floor in front of the fire and stretching out like a little puppy.  
  
Lily had awoken quite early this morning and tip-toed down to the common room to enjoy the feeling of Christmas morning. When she'd gotten there she met Violet, who was doing the same thing. Violet and Lily had seen each other around, but had never really talked. That morning they instantly became good friends, for they both had so much in common.  
  
Violet was a muggle-born, also, though she was from a wealthier family than Lily's. Strangely enough Violet's parents had both been Muggles, but all five of their children were witches or wizards. Lily had found this fascinating and talked about her sister and how un-supportive she was.  
  
Besides this little nick in the conversation, the rest of their talk had been quite pleasant, about things from classes and professors to boys and their friends, and all the while they'd been happily anticipating the others' arrival.  
  
"I can't wait to see James's face," Lily had told Violet, her green eyes sparkling. "I got him the best gift, he's going to be so happy."  
  
It only took about five minutes for Charlotte to reach the common room; the sound of Remus, John, James, Violet, and Lily's voices had woken her from her light sleep.  
  
"Merry Christmas!" she said cheerily. "I'm sorry I kept you all."  
  
"No matter," James said brightly.  
  
"Shall we?" asked John, and without waiting for a response he tore into a package from his aunt.  
  
"Cool!" he shrieked. He held up a floppy soft-cover book titled Quidditch for Beginners.  
  
"Think I could play with you sometime, James?" asked John eagerly, and James smiled slightly, saying, "Maybe, John."  
  
The others took turns opening presents and exclaiming over each others' gifts, and nearly an hour later they had finally reached the last few presents.  
  
James picked up a present wrapped in shiny silver paper. It was sort of heavy and shook when he rattled it. He glanced at Lily, whom the present was from, and asked in a fake worried voice, "Oh no, Lil, what did you do?"  
  
"Just shut it and open the present," she said, smiling at him. He grinned back and carefully tore open the paper to discover an all-white box about the size of a book.  
  
Taking the lid off, James found a framed picture inside, but when he took it out to examine it he felt his heart jump.  
  
Smiling up at him were Lily and himself in front of Lily's house when they were young, arms around each other. James's black hair was standing up at all angles, and Lily's eyes were glittering in the sunlight. Lily had found it in her picture album and charmed it to make it move, like wizard pictures do.  
  
"Well?" Lily asked, still smiling at James. She could tell that he loved it, the way he was staring at it and running his hand along the silvery frame.  
  
In moments James had placed the picture back in the box and jumped up. Pulling Lily up off of the couch and wrapping her in his arms, he gave her possibly the best kiss they'd had to date. When they finally broke apart, James grinned and said, "I love it."  
  
Lily giggled, blushing. "I'm glad," she said. The others had chosen to let the two kiss and had gone on to watching Charlotte unwrap her last present.  
  
"It's the best, Lil, really the best," James said, arms still around her.  
  
Lily rolled her eyes, still smiling. "I'm glad you like it so much."  
  
"Not as much as I like you, though," James said, feeling extremely cheesy but too caught up in his feelings to really care that he sounded like a ninny.  
  
"And how much DO you like me?" Lily asked, thinking that now would be the perfect time to tell him that she loved him and see if he said it back-  
  
"Oy, you two, we're going down to breakfast," Remus interrupted them, standing as the others headed towards the portrait hole. "You coming?"  
  
"In a second, I still have to give Lily her present," James said. Remus nodded knowingly and followed the others out of the common room, pushing the portrait shut behind him.  
  
James took Lily's hand and lead her over to the tree, where a small present was wrapped in emerald wrapping paper. He picked it up and gave it to Lily, saying, "Happy Christmas."  
  
Lily carefully untied the great white bow and peeled back the paper, opening the box that held her present. Lily's heart stopped when she saw it-  
  
"Oh, James," she breathed. James smiled and leaned forward to greet Lily's hug, whispering, "I thought you'd like it."  
  
Lily let go of James to admire her present again.  
  
He'd given her a necklace, and a nice one at that. Hanging from a glittering gold-plated chain was a gold-plated heart about the size of a dime. But what was especially nice about it was that engraved in the little golden heart were the initials J.P. and L.E.  
  
"James-I love it," Lily said. "It's gorgeous- but it must have been so expensive!"  
  
"I don't care, I'd spend every dime I own on you willingly," James said. "Money's not important, Lil, only you and me." James took a deep breath, and looking straight into Lily's emerald eyes, said, "I lo-"  
  
"Sorry to interrupt," John Creevy's voice interrupted them as he came into the common room. James let go of Lily's hand, a bit more than frustrated that their moment had been ruined.  
  
"What do you want, then?" he asked John, trying to stay calm.  
  
"Remus said for me to get you two," John explained, clearly not sensing James's frustration. "Severus Snape's skin's all blue, he got into a nasty duel with a sixth year in his house last night. He thought you might want to see it."  
  
"Yes, all right then," James said. Reluctantly he stood up and, hand in hand with Lily, walked down to the Great Hall to catch a glimpse of Snape.  
  
*******************  
  
A few days later the students began returning to Hogwarts, wanting to spend a bit of time at the school before the holidays were over.  
  
The eight seventh-year Gryffindors had all returned by the Friday before break ended, and they decided to head down to the Three Broomsticks to celebrate.  
  
"A round of butterbeers, please," James said to the wizard behind the counter. "And it's on me," he added to the group. "End of holidays treat."  
  
With a chorus of, "Thanks, James," the group settled at a table by the window, waiting eagerly for their drinks and talking happily about their vacations.  
  
"France was so much fun!" Julia admitted. "We got to see this parade that was SO pretty, it's amazing what Muggles can make without magic-"  
  
"Mum slipped and broke her hip, and didn't cook all week, so it was pointless for me to go home-" Peter complained to Elisabeth who said, "I wish that had happened to my mother, she tried to cook for my cousins and, well, THAT didn't turn out too well-"  
  
"My brother and I went to see a Quidditch match, got prime seats," Sirius bragged happily as their drinks arrived. Taking a sip of his he said, "So, what did you all do here?"  
  
James and Lily exchanged glances, saying, "Oh, not much really."  
  
Remus coughed on his butterbeer, saying, "Oh, not much? Then what was that first night all about?"  
  
"First night?" Sirius asked eagerly, sensing good teasing material. This was too great. "James you didn't stay over with Lily, like I thought you would did you?"  
  
"Not in the way that you THOUGHT, but-er," James faltered, and the group burst out into uncontrollable laughter.  
  
"Not really!?"  
  
"Are you putting us on?!"  
  
"Oh, shut it," Lily grumbled, and they all laughed again. Lily grinned slightly, embarrassed but almost enjoying her friends' teasing.  
  
"So does that mean you two are officially going out now, or what?" Maggie asked.  
  
"Ye- erm," James started, but then he stopped. Where they? He'd just kind of assumed that he and Lily were an item; it never crossed his mind to technically ask her out. But how bad would he look if he asked her out right now, especially if Lily thought they were going out already. He could see it now: Hey Lil, I know we've been kissing and even slept in your bed together but we aren't a couple or anything. Do you want to go out with me now that we've spent the past twelve weeks together? He couldn't very well ask her now.  
  
Lily's heart may well have stopped at James's hesitation; she definitely felt like it had. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach; what did James think? WERE they a couple? True, he'd never really asked her out, but they'd been meeting in the halls and kissing and just hanging out ever since that night Remus lost his parents almost twelve weeks ago. And just shortly ago on Christmas- she thought for sure he loved her then. And what about spending the night together? Did he just think she was someone he could mess around with? Or just-  
  
"No," James said carefully. He'd decided this was the best way to answer for now, and later he'd just explain to Lily why he'd hesitated and ask her out properly. That is, if she'd talk to him.  
  
Because by the way she was looking at him right now, talking seemed too rational a thing for her to do.  
  
"No?" Lily asked, sounding a bit edgy. The others fell dead silent, watching Lily's eyes flash dangerously.  
  
"Well, sort-of- that is to say- well we never technically-" James stumbled over the words, trying to think of what would calm Lily down the best right now.  
  
"Are we or not James?" Lily asked. She felt like her heart had fallen through the floor, and there was a cold feeling in her stomach. Her breath was coming quickly but in short little intakes.  
  
"Well, see Lil-I mean, yes but really no- no wait, that didn't sound quite right-"  
  
Upset and confused, Lily stood up from her chair, blindly pushing it back and muttering, "Excuse me." Before anyone could stop her she'd grabbed her scarf, wrapped it around her neck, and hurried out the door. Her cloak was still flung over the back of her chair, and though she was cold, Lily didn't turn back for it. Instead, she broke into a run and headed uphill, away from the pub.  
  
Back at the Three Broomsticks there was an awkward silence at the seventh years' table. James had groaned and put his head in his hands; the others were exchanging glances. Maggie in particular felt bad, she hadn't meant to cause any problems. She'd just assumed the way that the two of them were hanging all over each other-  
  
"James-" she started to apologize, but James held up his hand to stop her. Suddenly throwing on his cloak and scarf, he headed towards the door. As he put his hand on the doorknob, he turned back and said, "Don't bother waiting around for us to get back, I dunno how long it'll be. Enjoy yourselves."  
  
With a whirl of considerably cold wind and snow, James opened the door and took off in the direction that Lily had gone.  
  
It was definitely colder out now than when they'd arrived, and the afternoon sky had grown darker. Many students hurried towards the Three Broomsticks to warm up as James bent his head against the wind, hurrying uphill to the Shrieking Shack; towards a dark shape that very much resembled a teenage girl sitting on the steps and crying.  
  
She wasn't crying, he saw as he drew nearer, but her head was bent and her arms were around her knees. She looked up when she heard him coming, and the look of hurt in her gorgeous emerald eyes broke James's even run. He stumbled the rest of the way up the hill.  
  
As he reached Lily she spoke to him, in a sort of unfeeling, dead tone. "I'm fine, James. I'll be all right, I just want to be alone for a bit."  
  
"Lil," James said, sitting down next to her. He wanted to put an arm around her but he thought better of it; cold as she may be out here, she'd probably hit him if he tried to get any closer to her.  
  
"Lil," he repeated. "I - you - back there, at the pub-" James took a deep breath and said, "Lil, I didn't mean to make you upset, but the question kind of caught me off guard, and I didn't think- I mean I wasn't sure-"  
  
Lily turned and looked James straight in the eyes, saying, "James, I understand. I'm okay, just let me be for a bit-"  
  
"You don't get it Lil, I'm not trying to let you down easy or anything," James continued, a bit desperate now. She was acting as though they'd broken up, even though they'd never been going out, but they sort of had-  
  
James took a calming breath, trying to keep from getting hysterical, and said, "Lily, what I meant at the Three Broomsticks was nothing like you think-"  
  
"James, don't give me excuses," Lily cut him off, her eyes flashing. Sweet as she was, if she got worked up she could definitely get a little scary. "Answer me straight out. What are we doing? If we're not dating then why are we even doing what we have been? Do you think I'm easy or something?"  
  
"No, Lil," James said. "We are going out, I just meant we weren't technically, because my stupid arse waited too long to ask you, and Maggie asked if we were officially- I don't know why I didn't just- Lil, please, you have to believe me."  
  
"I don't know, James. I mean, Jesus! Even if we aren't - or are - or whatever, why would you answer NO? What about Christmas? What about that first night of break?"  
  
"Lil, I'm sorry, please don't take it like that at all, I just meant technically, officially - please, Lily."  
  
Lily studied him, ignoring the fact that by this point she couldn't really feel her arms or legs. His eyes looked frantic, as though he were extremely nervous that Lily might turn him away or just flat out hate him. But she still couldn't bring herself to forgive him totally, there was still a bit of uneasiness in her.  
  
"Please, Lily," James said softly. There was a vacant feeling in his stomach and chest, what if she hated him? What if she never spoke to him again? Oh, she couldn't hate him now, he hadn't told her he loved her. And what if they never spoke again, he was sure he would still love her, and he'd be miserable-  
  
She continued gazing at him, though her eyes had lost their edge of anger. James didn't breathe-  
  
"Why should I forgive you, James?"  
  
In a pleading, somewhat rattled voice, James took a deep breath and answered:  
  
"Because I love you, Lil."  
  
Lily froze, her breath caught in her throat. He loved her? He actually, really loved her; the very thing she'd wanted to hear from him he'd just said - He loved her! And she loved him, too, with all of her heart, but she'd though it was too soon to tell him, even though they were the happiest couple in the history of Hogwarts. Lily almost laughed at herself there; after all, she was just making a huge deal over technicalities-  
  
"Really?" she asked, as if to be sure. James held his breath and nodded.  
  
"I love you, too, James," Lily said in a rush, and in moments he had pulled her onto his lap and they were kissing deeply- like they'd never kissed before and like they never would again - the empty feelings in them replaced with a feeling of warmth and happiness  
  
"Wow," James said, when they finally broke apart. Lily's eyes were glittering, sparkling, shining - a thousand things at once, and James had never seen them look so beautiful.  
  
Lily looked into James's eyes and saw the happiness there, and the relief that she'd forgiven him. And in moments they were kissing again, hanging onto each other like there was no tomorrow.  
  
****************  
  
As the sun began to set on the western horizon and the snowclouds had blown away, Lily and James reluctantly left the porch steps of the shrieking shack and headed for the school, eager for a nice supper and to tell their friends the good news.  
  
As they walked along the road, arms around each other and James's cloak wrapped snugly around Lily, James had a sudden thought. He cleared his throat and, laughing nervously, said, "So, Lil, will you be my girlfriend then?"  
  
Lily stopped and burst out laughing, amazed at how quickly she'd forgotten about the technicalities of the situation even after all of that.  
  
"Yes," she said, smiling, and gave James a quick kiss on the Lips. James put his arms around her and stole another kiss when they'd broken apart, saying, "You won't regret it."  
  
"I know," Lily answered, and she was positive she never would.  
  
******************  
  
A/N: I think I might die of too much fluff syndrome, LoL. You like? I kinda did, it was fun writing :) next chapter lots of drama maybe, im pondering this little plot twist - but u'll just have to wait and see!!! Review review review, I love love love love love LOVE everyone who did already! Thanks a ton! Luv, Cassi~ 


	11. Dark Magic

A/N: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN CHANGED SLIGHTLY. I finished writing the 12 chapter to realize I needed to change some things in this one, so- enjoy!  
  
CHAPTER 11- DARK MAGIC  
  
"Full moon tonight!" Remus said brightly one Friday afternoon, just after their last class. He'd been in an exceptionally good mood lately, for recently Remus had realized something about himself that no one else had yet. Except maybe the other person it concerned, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. But Remus could think about that later.  
  
"Yeah!" Sirius responded gleefully. "Where to tonight?"  
  
"How about down by Kathar, we haven't been there in a while," James suggested from where he lay on his bed, reading a Quidditch magazine. The boys were hanging out in their dormitory, happily anticipating their coming adventure.  
  
"Um," Peter spoke up, "I don't think that's the best idea."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"B-because," Peter reasoned, his mind doing some wondrously fast thinking. "It's not the happiest place, and with the d-death-eaters around, it might be dangerous-"  
  
"Oh, but this will be such the best-" Remus exclaimed happily.  
  
"You sound like Julia," Sirius commented, looking up from the enlarged picture of Severus that he was charming. After a few choice words muttered by Sirius, the poster-sized picture Snape was wearing a large red hat and had no shirt on. His chest was beyond hairy: it was really quite disturbing.  
  
There was a flicker of something in Remus's eyes, but he just continued on, "-We should add to the Marauder's map, really. We could add the whole town of Kathar-"  
  
"Nah, not enough room on the parchment," James said, turning the page in his magazine. "But we could make a new one."  
  
"Be better if we made one of Hogsmede," Sirius put in his opinion. The picture Severus was now twirling about in a fluffy pink tutu.  
  
"Yeah, but we can't go there again, after what happened last time," Remus said. The others stopped what they were doing to let the guilt sink in a bit. Upon their last visit to Hogsmede Remus had slipped away from them and come very close to biting a little wizard boy who was walking home from a friend's house.  
  
"Point taken," James said after a moment. "Then Kathar it is."  
  
"But-" Peter started, but Sirius interrupted, saying, "Honestly, Wormtail, what's gotten into you? Where's your sense of adventure?"  
  
"Oh, fine," Peter gave in, but in the back of his mind there was a nagging, biting feeling telling him not to go.  
  
"So, Jamsie," Sirius began in a taunting voice, abandoning the picture of Snape dancing about and singing Gloria Gayner at the top of his lungs. "How're you and Lil doing?"  
  
James rolled his eyes and groaned, but he smiled a bit too. "Great."  
  
Sirius threw a pillow at his best friend. "Disgusting, really. I can't believe how mushy you two are, walking around like you're in love-"  
  
Remus, Peter, and James laughed at this.  
  
"Sorry, but we are," James responded, grinning.  
  
"WHAT?" the others shouted. James and Lily had decided not to mention to anyone what they'd decided that night they walked home- they'd had enough drama for the day. After that it just didn't seem necessary to tell the boys. The girls knew, of course, Lily couldn't help but tell them. But James had preferred to keep it to himself a bit longer.  
  
"That's great," Remus said sincerely. Peter's beady eyes were very un- natural looking for they were wide with shock.  
  
"Not really?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Yes, really," James responded. Sirius stared. "Well, congrats."  
  
"Thanks," James said. "But you seem to have your hands full with Maggie these days, I should be congratulating YOU. Didn't I see you two behind greenhouse three last week-?"  
  
"Shut up!" Sirius cut him off, a look of madness in his dark eyes. "You didn't, it must have been someone else-"  
  
"Oh just admit it, Padfoot," Remus said, rolling his eyes and smiling at his friend. "You LOVE her. You WANT her-"  
  
"Ugh," Sirius tried to act disgusted, but the blush of red in his face gave him away. "Maybe just a bit."  
  
"I knew it!" James shrieked. They were really starting to sound quite girly.  
  
"Speaking of the Maggie and Lily, oughtn't we go tell the girls some excuse why we won't be around later in case they get suspicious?" Remus asked.  
  
"Yeah, especially if they come 'round looking for us," Peter agreed. The four of them sobered up a bit and headed for the door, Sirius lugging the picture of Snape with him (who was shrieking in a horribly off-key voice, "Oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive-").  
  
"I think I'll put this up in the common room," Sirius said casually. "You know, a little entertainment."  
  
**************  
  
After Sirius placed the picture of Snape in front of the empty fireplace they found the girls in the back of the common room, whispering together in giggly voices.  
  
"I think they're discussing us," Sirius muttered to Remus and James, who were on either side of him, as the boys approached. As if to confirm his suspicions, Julia, Elisabeth, Lily and Maggie looked up and giggled hysterically at the sight of the boys.  
  
" 'Lo," Lily greeted them through her laughter. "What's going on? You look like you're up to something."  
  
"I was about to say the same to you lot," Sirius said, eyeing them suspiciously. "And rightfully, I think-"  
  
"Oh, we're just having a girl talk," Lily said, but she avoided their eyes as she said this, James's in particular. They'd just been discussing Jack Lestrange, a particularly good-looking Slytherin. Not that Lily had said anything to betray James, she had in fact put in her opinion that James was the best-looker in all of the seventh year, but she still felt guilty.  
  
"Oh no," James said, laughing. Lily walked over to him and pecked him on the cheek, asking, "What are you all up to?"  
  
"Not much, really," James said, slipping an arm around Lily's waist and pulling her closer, kissing the top of her head. "But we won't be 'round later on, got a project to finish up for, er-"  
  
"Defense," Sirius jumped in. "Whettle's given us extra work for blowing up Malfoy's book-bag last week."  
  
"Honestly, it was just a bit of fun," Remus said, and the girls laughed while the boys grinned evily. Julia smiled at Remus, and his cheeks flushed up a bit.  
  
"And it was only on accident we sprayed his face with ink, we didn't mean it," Peter said, and the others laughed again.  
  
"I'm sure you didn't," Maggie said, her eyes flicking towards Sirius. He was looking at her warmly and smiling.  
  
Elisabeth, who never missed a thing, caught Julia and Remus's glance, as well as Maggie and Sirius's. And of course, there were James and Lily with their arms around each other, whispering their own little conversation. Elisabeth couldn't help feel a bit jealous at Julia and Remus, for she had a crush on him. But she was taking care of that.  
  
Remus- Elisabeth thought for a moment. Wasn't there something she'd been thinking earlier, something about Remus and tonight-  
  
"Tonight's the full moon!" she said abruptly, remembering. The others, who'd been chatting, looked at her.  
  
"I know," Remus said casually. "I'm going down to the grounds later on."  
  
"But what about your project?"  
  
"Erm, they're working on it," Remus said, nodding to James, Sirius and Peter, who nodded in turn.  
  
"Oh, Peter too?" Maggie asked curiously. Peter shot her a look, but the others took it as "Oh, you mean you're actually letting PETER help you?" That wasn't, in fact, what she meant.  
  
"Yes, Peter's a good wizard," Remus lied, frowning at Maggie a bit. Julia looked back and forth between them.  
  
Elisabeth cleared her throat. "Well this is all fun, but I've got to be off." Checking her watch, she headed towards the dormitory stairs to get her cloak, saying over her shoulder, "I've got somewhere to be, I'll see you all in the morning."  
  
As she disappeared up the cold stone staircase, the others looked at each other in silence, wondering about Maggie's hard feelings against Peter and Elisabeth's mysteriousness.  
  
"Hadn't you better get started on your project?" Maggie asked after a moment, still staring at Peter.  
  
"Maggie, lay off," Julia said. Maggie's eyes flared for a moment, but instead she said, "I'll see you all later, I've got something to do." With that she turned and strode off through the portrait hole, heading to the grounds.  
  
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I have no idea," Julia shook her head. Unseen to everyone else, Peter gulped.  
  
**************  
  
"There goes Madam Pomfrey."  
  
"Okay, off with the cloak then-"  
  
"No, hang on, she's not completely gone yet-"  
  
"Ow, Peter, that was my FOOT!"  
  
"Sorry, I tripped!"  
  
"Shh!" James hissed. "There she goes-okay-see Remus?"  
  
"No, he's probably in the tunnel. On three?" Sirius put in.  
  
"Yes, I think so," James nodded. "One- Two- Three-"  
  
They pushed off the cloak and began transforming, James quickly shoving the invisibility cloak into his robe pocket.  
  
Anyone who looked out of their dormitory at that moment would be very startled, indeed. Standing on the grounds just before the Whomping Willow were a glowing, silvery stag, a giant dog that very much resembled a grim, and a tiny, beady-eyed rat.  
  
Prongs nodded his head towards the Willow, and Wormtail slunk forward, weaving under the Willow's wildly flailing branches to touch the knot on the trunk.  
  
Prongs and Padfoot prepared themselves to tackle Remus, just in case he'd temporarily lost his mind. But they'd been doing this with him so long that Remus was more or less in his human mind when he emerged. He even snuffed a laugh as he watched Peter weave through the moving branches.  
  
The boys met in a small circle on the lawn by the forest, as if to make sure everyone was ready, and in a moment James took the lead as they wove through the trees, heading to Kathar.  
  
From the shadows a small figure with long hair watched them go, her smile not nearly as nice as it usually was.  
  
*****************  
  
As the animagi reached the small, mostly wizarding town of Kathar, they instantly knew something was wrong. The usually brightly-lit little street had gone dark and dim, and in the air there was a scent of ill- intentioned potions brewing. Not to mention that their animal-instincts had definitely picked up on the uneasiness of the forest, as though every animal was lying quietly in its den, too frightened to come out.  
  
Prongs stopped as they reached the edge of the forbidden forest, which ran right alongside Kathar. Moony and Padfoot slunk up to either side of him, though Wormtail hung back. His little rat body quivered in fright, and he squeaked a few times as if to say, "Let's go back."  
  
Padfoot growled silently at him and took a cautious step out from the cover of the trees. The wind whistled down the empty street, blowing cold snow from the eaves of the houses.  
  
A moment later Prongs came up next to him, sniffing the hair and stamping his right hoof a few times. Padfoot nodded, acknowledging that he'd understood Prongs's concern. He growled a low growl and inched forward, beckoning the others to follow.  
  
As they slunk along the tree line towards an open field that ran for miles to the west, Prongs backed up by Moony, just to make sure he didn't get any crazy ideas. Wormtail scurried on behind them, his whiskers twitching nervously.  
  
As they came upon the field and easily stepped over (or under, in Womtail's case) the low, broken down fence, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs suddenly felt extremely uneasy. There was no doubt a spell had been placed on this field, warding trespassers away; but the fact that they were in animal form heightened their resistance to the spell. Ever the curious mischief-makers that they were, the four slunk towards the far end of the pasture, where they could just make out a group of black-robed wizards standing in a circle.  
  
******************  
  
Back at the castle Julia and Lily were sitting awake in their dorm, talking quickly and quietly about Remus.  
  
"I have a feeling Elisabeth's after him," Julia whispered. "And I can't help but wish she didn't, I like him so much!"  
  
"Maybe she's not, really," Lily suggested, though she didn't believe it herself. "Elisabeth has been acting strangely lately, particularly around Remus and Julia."  
  
"She's weird now," Julia voiced Lily's exact thoughts. "She doesn't smile as much as she used to, or laugh."  
  
"You don't think she's gotten into something bad, do you?" Lily wondered, but before she could get an answer there was a knock at their door.  
  
Jumping off of her bed and walking softly to the door, she called out, "Who is it?"  
  
"Violet," a voice answered, and Lily opened the door. There stood a frenzied looking Violet, her usual optimistic manner and brightly lit eyes completely vanished. Instead she was breathing hard, and her skin was paler than the moonlight.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lily asked, extremely concerned. She beckoned for Violet to come in, but the girl seemed to not be responding.  
  
"I was just at the grounds- with- with a friend- and I saw a girl from your dorm down there- and when I try-tried to talk to her-" Violet's breath was coming rapidly, as though it was paining her to talk. "-she, she had a wand- and on her arm- my friend's still there- I ran- I tried to get to Dumbledore- but his office, I don't know where it is- McGonagall's off somewhere- Lily, please, I don't know who else to ask for- please, get Dumbledore-"  
  
Violet had said all of this in mere seconds. Her face had gone ever paler, if possible, and her lips were quivering. Her jaw shook as she spoke, and Violet grasped the armoire beside her, as though she may faint any moment.  
  
Lily and Julia were now both next to Violet, Lily ready to support her friend if she should fall and Julia looking uneasy, as though she wasn't sure if she should call for help or settle down to hear the rest of the story.  
  
"Violet, slow down, we can't understand you," Lily said, her voice attempting to take a soothing tone. It didn't work well, her heartbeat was starting to pick up a bit. Violet had a look of such terror in her eye that Lily wasn't sure quite what to do.  
  
Violet swayed and Lily caught her arm to steady her.  
  
"What did you see, Violet?" Lily asked, her voice assuming a very regal, head-girl tone. Violet slowed her breath a tenth of a fraction and said carefully, though no more slowly, "My-friend- is still down there. She got hit with- with a spell- and I ran for help-"  
  
"Are you sure it was a girl from our dorm?" Lily asked, and Violet nodded. "I heard her, I recognized her voice, but I couldn't see what she looked like-"  
  
"Can't you remember from the voice?" Julia asked. Violet didn't respond; she looked weaker, and she sunk slowly to the ground, shaking violently. Her eyes stared at the floor, as though remembering an awful ordeal.  
  
"Lily- I think- she's a death eater-" Violet said urgently.  
  
Lily stopped breathing, her mind jumping to the same conclusion as Julia's, judging by the look they exchanged. Elisabeth had been acting so weird lately- and she'd gone out earlier-  
  
"Julia, stay with Violet. I'm going for Dumbledore."  
  
*************************  
  
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were now sitting quietly at the far end of the field, about ten feet away from a group that was unmistakably made up of death eaters. They were surrounding a cauldron with a bright purple, sparkling fluid sloshing around on the inside. And eerie light from the potion spilled into the sky, glowing deep purple.  
  
The group was chanting under their breaths, not making much more than a gentle humming noise. Judging by the weakness of the earlier repelling spell and the number of wizards here, this was a small, untrained group of death eaters. New recruits, and if it could be determined by their size, not much older than the four boys watching from the shadows. They were, in fact, the same age.  
  
The chanting stopped, and a girl of seventeen stepped out into the circle, dipping a ladle into the cauldron and sipping the liquid tentatively.  
  
"Lestrange," she said. "You first."  
  
Something prompted Padfoot in the back of his mind. The girl's voice was distorted between the layer of cloth she wore over her mouth and the howling wind in the forest behind them, but Padfoot recognized that voice.  
  
A boy who looked as tall as the marauders were when not transformed stepped out to the ladle and took it from the girl, saying a few words under his breath before downing the whole thing. Shuddering, he stepped back into the circle.  
  
"McCaffery," the girl prompted, and another robed and hooded teen stepped out to refill and drink from the ladle.  
  
Padfoot's mind was spinning, and he fought hard to try to grasp what he was sure he'd just witnessed. That voice- he'd known that voice for so long- seven years now. But it couldn't be true- she would never- there was no way-  
  
A growl came from behind him, and Padfoot turned just in time to see Moony dash off into the forest in a quick snap of snarls. No doubt he'd been sitting quiet to long, his werewolf mind was getting restless. Prongs was already after Moony, hoofs quietly beating the ground. Wormtail squeaked and followed urgently, though he could do nothing to stop the now raging werewolf.  
  
Padfoot followed hurriedly, though he couldn't help throwing a glance back at the circle. They hadn't heard Moony, luckily, but there was still a feeling of uneasiness in Padfoot's mind. He was sure he knew that girl who stood by the cauldron, but he wasn't willing to believe it. To him it just didn't seem possible that Maggie could be a death eater. She wasn't like that.  
  
A growl from the forest made Padfoot focus on the task at hand, and he ran off after his friends.  
  
*********************************** Ooh I bet ur all good and confused now, is Maggie the evil one? Or Elisabeth? (Cuz I'll give you a hint, it's not both.) I'm gonna get a bunch of flames for this, but before you go and get all mad at me just wait for a few more chapters- things are going to take an interesting turn- trust me, it's all gonna work out nicely in the end!!! Luv, Cassi~ 


	12. Lies, Blame and Deceit

A/N: Just an FYI, I altered the last chapter, so u may want to go re-read (or skim) that to find out the new stuff! Otherwise this chapter will leave u more confused then ive already made u- hehe, carry on!  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 12 - LIES, BLAME, AND DECEIT  
  
The next morning dawned dreary and cold, a perfect setting for the feelings of tension and uneasiness that had fallen over the Gryffindor seventh years. Remus was safely hidden inside the shrieking shack- last night's outburst was a close call, and he couldn't afford for it to happen again. On a side note, Violet was sleeping calmly in hospital- she would soon return to the hustle and bustle of the school, but for now Dumbledore thought it best to leave her be. Her friend, the one who'd been attacked, lay awake on the bed next to Violet's- shaken, but ultimately unharmed.  
  
The Marauders, who'd spent the night tossing and turning restlessly in their beds, were unusually quiet the next day. They ditched the trip to Hogsmede that was scheduled to stay by the warmth and comfort of the common room fireplace, each lost in his own thoughts.  
  
James felt like he should tell Dumbledore- after all, it was his duty as Head Boy to report anything unusual- but there were so many illegalities involved that he couldn't risk it. Even if he could manage to "forget" the fact that he, Peter and Sirius were Animagi, they'd been off school grounds, had wandered through the forbidden forest, and smuggled Remus out of the Shack- no, he couldn't tell Dumbledore.  
  
The four girls were uneasy, also. Julia and Lily were especially wary with Elisabeth today, who certainly didn't miss their tension. Feeling it best not to inquire what was going on, and lost in her own thoughts, she spent most of the day without saying a word. Maggie, too, was quiet- she hadn't turned in last night until nearly 3:30, and she was much too tired to bother with trying to figure out what the hell was going on with her roommates.  
  
So with all of this on everyone's minds you can imagine that it was a quiet group that sat down to lunch in the Great Hall that day. The bowls of enchanted, winter-blues-lifting soup didn't seem to pick them up more than a tad, and the conversation quickly turned from small talk here and there to heated arguments at the slightest mention of Voldemort or Death Eaters.  
  
Sirius thought things were bad then, but they were worse when the owl post arrived. As Sirius's faithful owl, Eoiffe, swept in with the morning's Daily Prophet, he instantly knew something was wrong.  
  
"What?" James asked somewhat irritably as Sirius stared at the front page. Silently, Sirius placed article into James's hands, not willing to read it himself.  
  
DARK MAGIC IN KATHAR  
  
Ministry wizards decline to comment on the Dark Mark found last night over a field in the mostly-wizarding town of Kathar, writes Ella Gamphrey, special corespondent. Frank Longbottom, Auror-trainee whom we met on- scene, believes this to be the work of you-know-who's supporters, more commonly referred to as Death Eaters. The spilled remains of a purple potion, identified as Daramanto, (a potion which rids the drinker of emotional attachment to any other than a chosen witch or wizard and is commonly used in pledge ceremonies), increased the Ministry's suspicions.  
  
"There is no doubt we are dealing with dark magic here," says Kier Solmuth, Minister of Potion Development and Research. "This potion has been linked with the initiations of forty Death Eaters to date. We can only hope that, as this has happened so close to the school, He-Who-Must- Not-Be-Named is not corrupting the students [of Hogwarts]." Indeed, as the Dark Mark was found on scene, we must pray this is not the case.  
  
A note at the bottom of the page prompted readers to turn to the back of the Prophet for the rest of the article, but James didn't bother; he'd read enough already.  
  
Glancing over at his best friend, James handed the paper back to Sirius and muttered under his breath, "They found the Dark Mark over the remains of whatever potion that was."  
  
Lily, who was sitting next to James, overheard what he'd said but made no move to imply that she had. Instead, she put her head on her hand and turned her face away from James, pretending to be lost in thought.  
  
"We can't tell Dumbledore, though," Sirius hissed back. "We'll get expelled for sure, if not worse once the Ministry catches on-"  
  
James nodded shortly; he'd already had this argument with himself and didn't want to go over it again with Sirius. But he did think of one good point to it all-  
  
"Anyway," he muttered, "It's not like we recognized anyone from the school there."  
  
Sirius would have winced if his mind hadn't been weighed down by thinking the opposite of this very thought. He gave himself away, though, when he didn't answer.  
  
James frowned slightly at Sirius's lack of response but knew better than to prompt him- Sirius was in one of his moods and James didn't feel like dealing with him. Instead, he turned to Lily, who looked like she had a lot on her mind.  
  
"Hey," James whispered to Lily, touching her arm. She jumped (congratulating herself on her acting skills) and turned around to face her boyfriend, giving him a thin smile.  
  
"Want to get out of here?" James asked, and Lily nodded. Pushing her bowl towards the center of the table, she stood up, James next to her.  
  
"Where are you two going?" inquired Maggie, sounding almost bored.  
  
"Just for a walk," Lily said, giving Maggie an innocent look and the spinning around, her red hair fanning out behind her as she did so. James gave a wave to everyone and followed Lily out, thinking.  
  
As they reached the doors and entered the Entrance Hall, Lily suddenly spun around to face James and said, "You know that group? That one you wanted to start?"  
  
"The Order of the Phoenix?" James asked, then realizing Lily had no idea what he was talking about added, "That's what I want to call it."  
  
Lily was silent for a moment, her train of thought lost. "Interesting," she decided. "I like it. Anyway, just what were you thinking about doing with it?"  
  
"Well, I was sorta thinking it would just start with the eight of us, and then expand as we added more trustworthy people. Every member invites anyone they think would be good for it."  
  
"Isn't that risky?"  
  
"Not if members can only invite people they would easily trust with their lives."  
  
Lily thought a moment. "And you think that ALL eight of us are trustworthy?"  
  
James began to nod, but he suddenly recalled Sirius's earlier hesitation. He eyed her curiously and asked, "Why, can you think of someone who wouldn't be?"  
  
"Maybe," Lily said, then, suddenly realizing that they were in the middle of the Entrance Hall and vulnerable to eavesdroppers, said, "We have to find someplace quieter. How about my dor-" she stopped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Actually, how about your dorm?" Lily asked. "I'm not sure how, um, safe mine is anymore."  
  
James was thoroughly confused but had a feeling he might be catching on now.  
  
"All right, my dorm then."  
  
When they got to Gryffindor tower and safely into the boys' dorm, James prompted, "Okay, WHAT is going on?''  
  
"I think someone, er, one of us, well-" Lily started, then hesitated. Walking absently over to James's bed, she sat down.  
  
"James, do you ever think about what Voldemort's doing to so many innocent people? How many lives and friendships he's ruined?"  
  
"Sometimes," James said, sitting down on the bed next to her. "Actually, all the time. But that's why I'm going to do something about it."  
  
"Right," Lily said, taking a deep breath and sitting up straighter. "And you think the eight of us would be a good way to start."  
  
"I did- but with the way you and Sirius are acting I'm starting to think maybe not."  
  
Lily took that the wrong way.  
  
"Nono, I mean, you're both acting like you know something about one of us-" he said quickly, catching the flare in Lily's sharp green eyes.  
  
"I think someone in my dorm is in league with Voldemort," Lily said softly. "Violet came to my dorm last night while you all were working-" here she threw James a look "-and said someone attacked her friend on the grounds. And that it was someone from our dorm."  
  
James processed this. So Lily thought one of the girls in her dorm was untrustworthy, and Sirius was uneasy about something-  
  
"I think Sirius knows," James said. "He was acting funny today when we were talking about- er, talking."  
  
There was a moment of uneasy silence, then Lily blurted, "James, I know you lot weren't working on any project last night."  
  
James didn't respond, just looked in front of him.  
  
"I heard you talking to Sirius, I think you were out on the grounds- maybe even in Kathar."  
  
"Kathar?"  
  
Lily was growing irritated. "I saw the paper, James. You were there, weren't you?"  
  
James sighed. Part of him was insisting that he deny it and say she was crazy- but the part that loved Lily didn't want to keep any secrets from her. And that, however foolish as it was, was the part he listened to.  
  
"Even if we were in Kathar, we didn't see anything. Well, I didn't. Sirius may have."  
  
"Nothing? So you never saw any dark magic? Nothing suspicious?"  
  
"No, I mean we saw- we saw a group of people who looked like they were our age standing in a circle, with black robes. And a potion."  
  
Lily was quiet. In the back of her mind she was thinking a thousand little head-girl type things, like "they shouldn't have been off the grounds" or "they could have gotten hurt," but Lily pushed all of those thoughts aside and whispered, "So maybe Elisabeth was there."  
  
James nodded, then said, "Wait, Elisabeth? I thought we were talking about Maggie."  
  
"Maggie?" Lily looked like the thought had never dawned on her. "No, that couldn't be right. Elisabeth was gone all night, and she's been acting weird lately."  
  
"Well Maggie seems tired today, what was she doing all night?"  
  
"She-" Lily stopped, realizing. "She didn't get in until late, either. I almost forgot while I was thinking about Elisabeth- but Maggie said the strangest thing last night- she woke me up when she came in, and I asked her what was up. She just said, 'Be careful who you trust Lily, one of us might not be worthy of it.' I thought she'd gone mad- or she was tired or something- and I fell back to sleep."  
  
The two of them sat a bit, thinking about what Lily had just remembered. "So-so did she know about Elisabeth?"  
  
"Why are you so sure it's Elisabeth?"  
  
"Why are you NOT?"  
  
"Because if it was Elisabeth- and say it was- Sirius wouldn't keep his thoughts to himself. He never had any special feelings for Elisabeth, so he'd probably rat her out right away. But Maggie- I've seen the two of them lately- he wouldn't believe it if he thought it was her. He wouldn't mention it for fear of being wrong and messing things up with Maggie again. Or else-" James, who'd just spent the last couple minutes thinking aloud, finally reached the right conclusion, "He's scared to find out that it's true-that it WAS Maggie. So he figures if he doesn't ask, he won't be certain."  
  
Lily looked at James for a long while. The silence pressed in around them, and not a sound could be heard from anywhere in Gryffindor tower. Unable to stand it, Lily shook her head.  
  
"This is crazy."  
  
"I know," James said, putting an arm around her. "But it's got to be stopped. If one of our friends really is a traitor-" he trailed off. Lily leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder, saying, "Then we'll have to figure out who it is. We can't do anything before that."  
  
James sighed, "You're right. We'll just have to wait and see if something else turns up."  
  
*************************************************  
  
Down in the Great Hall things at the table hadn't reached a point of conclusion as they had with James and Lily. Maggie kept eyeing Peter, who was watching Elisabeth. Elisabeth was too busy avoiding Julia's gaze to notice this, though Julia, feeling as though things were too tense, was talking to Sirius (who had his eyes on Maggie the whole time). It was quite the little circle of blame down at their end of the table, and no one was brave enough to make the first accusation.  
  
"Seen the daily prophet?" Sirius asked Julia loudly, hoping Maggie would hear. She didn't even flinch.  
  
"No, what's going on?"  
  
"There was some dark magic down in Kathar last night," Sirius said, watching Maggie as he spoke. Julia followed his gaze, confused, but Maggie remained unfazed. She had instead noticed that Peter had twitched rather violently at Sirius's words.  
  
"Something wrong?" she asked Peter viciously, and he glanced up at her.  
  
"No, no, nothing," he nearly whimpered, but he kept a calm expression on his face. Elisabeth looked at Maggie.  
  
"What's your problem?"  
  
"I don't have one," Maggie turned to Elisabeth, surprised.  
  
"Then why do you keep picking on Peter like that?"  
  
"I don't," Maggie lied.  
  
"You do so," Elisabeth said quickly. "Last night you were bitching at him, too."  
  
"Well maybe he deserves it," Maggie muttered.  
  
"What?" Sirius asked, getting himself into the argument.  
  
"Nothing," Maggie said, then rounded on Peter again. "Hey, Pete, why don't you tell them why you were so jumpy last night?"  
  
"Wh-whatever are you talking about?" Peter asked, cowering under Maggie's gaze.  
  
"And why were YOU so edgy, we'd like to know," Sirius prompted Maggie. She looked at him with a bit of hurt in her eyes, but there was also a look of deep secrecy.  
  
"I wasn't. I simply went out for a walk."  
  
"A walk in Kathar?" Sirius asked meanly, and Maggie failed to look as shocked as she should have.  
  
"Uh-no," she faltered.  
  
"Ah-ha," Elisabeth said quickly. "I knew it!"  
  
"Knew what? You should keep your mouth shut, death eater, before one of us turns you in," Julia growled under her breath. The group fell silent, staring at Julia. Her words and tone were so out of character that no one dared to speak for a long while. But Elisabeth had to defend herself.  
  
"You-you think I'm a DEATH EATER?" Elisabeth sputtered. Then, to everyone's great surprise, she began laughing.  
  
"So that's what this is all about," Peter said after a moment, acting as the peace-keeper. "You all think one of US is a death eater!"  
  
"How brilliant of you," Maggie hissed, but no one heard her.  
  
"Well I don't think any of us is," Peter continued nobly. It wasn't exactly odd for him to try to preach things to his friends; the stranger thing was that this time he actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about. "So why don't we all just shake and be done with it."  
  
The others stared warily at each other for some time before Elisabeth put her hand in.  
  
"I'm not promising to believe Peter," she said. "But there's no evidence at all. Fair chance to everyone, I say."  
  
Julia looked on but didn't put her hand in; neither did Maggie. Peter put his in, though. Sirius just looked back and forth at all of his friends before finally saying, "Well, maybe no one is, and maybe they are. But I intend on finding out."  
  
With that he stood up from the table and walked out of the hall, the others staring after him.  
  
"Oh good lord," Julia said, and went out after Sirius. It seemed like he might know a little something already, and she wanted to find out what.  
  
Maggie, Peter, and Elisabeth stared at each other for a few moments, before Elisabeth let out a little sputtering laugh again.  
  
"What's funny?" Maggie asked, but Elisabeth just shook her head.  
  
"Nothing," she said, standing up. "I'm just-going to study for a little while-" Bursting out into another fit of laughter, she left the hall.  
  
Peter stared after her, rather nervously. All his previous nobility and courage lost, he tittered, "Mental, isn't she?"  
  
Maggie glared at Peter for a moment while he gulped, then she said quietly, "You weren't there last night, Peter. I was waiting for you."  
  
"Wh-what?"  
  
"You heard me. You think you can just slip away, don't you Peter? Just throw your loyalties around, be mutual with everyone- well, you're wrong."  
  
"You've gone off your rocker, too, I believe," Peter squeaked, then stood to hurry out of the hall. But as he left Maggie called after him, "You had better choose wisely, Peter, or else I'll have to make sure you're disposed of. I don't like traitors."  
  
  
  
********************************************* A/N: Eeeee hehehhe im so evil- well, not really. Lalala this is fun to write, but its getting a little DARK! Maybe next chapter I'll put a bit of l/j in, just to spice things up. Sadly, I don't think there's gonna be many chapters left in this- maybe 5 or so- but I'm planning on a sequel fic, so don't despair! Haha :) Review review, I am losing faith in u! (Well, not all, cuz I have a bunch of u guys who always review, claudiablack, salem, laminacourt, selphie, jessthegreat, julianne, moonie2, and more, but they reviewed most!) THANK YOU THANK YOU! To EVERYONE who did!!! And the rest of u- well, ill just deal with u later! :) Luv, Cassi~ 


	13. Innocent

A/N: hahha, all goes according as planned!!! - LISTEN to what Maggie says, you are missing the concept - - - ah well, you shall find out soon enough! Eeheehee!  
  
PS!! I apologize to Maigon Jesolite - L Fuchsia for not including u on my thank you list of frequent reviewers, cuz u do review a lot!!! So im sorry to L Fuchsia and anyone else I forgot to include for I truly appreciate ALL of the reviews I get!!!  
  
NOW for the story!  
  
CHAPTER 13-INNOCENT  
  
Julia jogged down the corridor to Sirius's bent form. He was trudging slowly up the stairs, his shoulders sagging and looking thoroughly beat.  
  
"Sirius!"  
  
Stopping, Sirius turned and gave Julia a half-smile. It wasn't helping him any that Julia looked so similar to Maggie- his dear Maggie, who'd betrayed them all-  
  
"What's wrong?" Julia asked quietly, walking up a few steps to show Sirius they should walk and talk. He took the hint.  
  
"I- I shouldn't tell you," Sirius said as they reached the first landing. "It's nothing really. Just- me being stupid," he tried feebly to convince himself. His desperate lie, however, didn't work on either of them.  
  
"Come on Sirius, we've known each other for SO long," she prompted. "You can tell ME!"  
  
Sirius grinned thinly at her. "I don't think I can."  
  
Julia made a sarcastic, messing-with-him face. "Is it a MANLY problem?"  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes, "No, thanks for asking so boldly."  
  
"Then WHAT?"  
  
"It's nothing, just- it's fine."  
  
"I don't think so, Sirius, I've never seen you as down as this. I mean honestly, your normal personality is CRAZY."  
  
"I'm just tired."  
  
"Oh, please! Tired for you is like- like- exploding something in the Divination room. Not-" she figured she'd just jump right in, "-like snapping at my sister."  
  
Sirius stumbled on a step.  
  
"Come on Sirius. I know you still like her, does it have something to do with that?"  
  
"Yes- I mean no- well, not directly." Sighing, Sirius plopped himself down on the nearest step, which was halfway up to the fourth landing. Maggie sat next to him, folding her hands and thinking.  
  
"Well then, tell me how you feel about her."  
  
"I just- look, Julia- It's too big- I can't talk about it."  
  
"Not even to me?" she batted her eyelashes at him.  
  
"Save that stuff for Remus," Sirius scolded, cracking a slight grin at the look of indignation Julia shot him. Maybe he COULD tell her- after all, Maggie WAS her sister. She'd know if Maggie was into stuff like that- wouldn't she?  
  
"Hey, Julia?" Sirius asked. Julia cocked her head to the side and looked at him.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Have you noticed Maggie acting- well, STRANGE lately?"  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Um, different? In a not good way?"  
  
Julia thought about it. Well, she had seemed colder towards Peter, and she'd been disappearing at night sometimes.  
  
"Maybe a bit. Why?"  
  
"I think- I mean- in Kathar-" Sirius stopped, but Julia was bright enough to catch on. Her eyes widening, Julia leaned back in shock.  
  
"You can't POSSIBLY think-?" Julia scoffed, staring at Sirius in disbelief. Telling Julia he saw her sister in Kathar wouldn't prove much, she might not believe him. Plus he'd have to explain why they'd been out.  
  
"Just-if you notice anything different-keep an eye on her," Sirius finally finished, then stood and walked quickly the rest of the way up the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower.  
  
Sitting on the stairs and staring at the spot where Sirius had been sitting, Julia thought baffledly to herself //He can't be right, it makes no sense! My sister is NOT a death eater.// But as she sat and thought about it more, the possibility that it COULD be Maggie seemed to grow in her mind a bit. After all, Maggie could get really moody sometimes- and she seemed more the type than Elisabeth-  
  
"What am I THINKING?" Julia said loudly, standing up and stomping back down the stairs towards the Great Hall. "Not Maggie- she's my SISTER for God's sake!" She turned the corner sharply as she reached the bottom, muttering darkly to herself. Then-  
  
"Oomph!"  
  
"Ow, Peter, watch where you're going," Julia said coldly, then immediately regretted it. "Sorry, Pete, I-"  
  
But Peter, who seemed unfazed by their collision, continued his hurried escape from the Great Hall, and fled up the stairs.  
  
//Weird// Julia thought. Shrugging and halfheartedly returning to her muttering, she continued on towards the hall. She had one plan in mind; to ask Maggie what was going on.  
  
*********************  
  
Upstairs, most of the seventh year Gryffindors were gathered in the boys' dormitory. James and Lily were sitting together on James' bed, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder. Sirius was sitting on his bed, head in his hands and mumbling his input to the conversation. Peter stood edgily by the door, as though he expected Maggie to burst into the room after him and he'd have to run for it.  
  
"Julia's gone to tell her," Sirius muttered to his hands. The others looked at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Julia's telling Maggie we're on to her," Sirius spoke more clearly, raising his head for a second or two.  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Is she MAD?"  
  
"Wha-what's bad about that?" Peter asked. "Isn't it good that she's not beating around the bush?"  
  
"Peter what in the name of Cleansweeps are you TALKING about? This is awful!" James addressed Peter, who was shaking violently.  
  
"Well, I mean, rather than act all edgy around her- and live in fear- now everything will be laid out cleanly on the table."  
  
"I think you're mental, too," Lily put in her opinion. "This is not good."  
  
"So what're we going to do about it?"  
  
Silence. Lily played with the necklace James had given her for Christmas, keeping her eyes down, thinking. So Maggie knew. What were they going to do about it after Julia told her? They couldn't very well curse her off, her absence would be noticed and they'd get in loads of trouble. And if they weren't sure about her, they couldn't tell Dumbledore- he'd just dismiss it as a teenage squabble between friends. Or would he? Maybe he would find a way to sort through things. And in the back of her mind Lily clung to the hope that Dumbledore would prove them wrong and find that Maggie wasn't a death eater.  
  
Clearing her throat, Lily suggested, "We could tell Dumbledore."  
  
Sirius looked up, his eyes pleading her not to tell. They just couldn't tell Dumbledore, what if he sent her off? He couldn't bare the thought of being away from Maggie- then again, what if she really WAS a death eater? She could finish them all so quickly-  
  
"Please don't," Sirius almost whimpered. His friends looked at him. Sirius looked so pitiful there, the colour mostly gone from his face and the sparkle and snap gone from his dark eyes. They hadn't really thought of what all this would be doing to Sirius.  
  
"Sirius, it may be our only choice," Peter said sadly. In the back of his mind, he noted how things were taking an upward turn. With Maggie out of the picture-  
  
"But- but what if she isn't- if it's all a misunderstanding?"  
  
"Sirius." James's rational voice cut into Sirius's mindlessly hopeful thoughts like a sharp knife. "We can't keep assuming it's not her. Everything points to her, it all makes sense."  
  
"But it's so soon!" Sirius argued feebly. "We don't know all the facts yet."  
  
His friends looked on sadly. Lily avoided Sirius's eyes- she, too, was thinking that they hadn't given the situation enough time. But time could be dangerous if Maggie was, in fact, a death eater. She could kill them all, and that wasn't a chance they could take. James had a point; she fit the clues. There was such a small chance that it wasn't her- there really couldn't be any good in waiting.  
  
"I'm sorry Sirius. It's just too risky," she whispered.  
  
Sirius gazed unhappily at his friends, his hope fading fast. Everything in him was urging him to agree; he KNEW they had to tell Dumbledore. But he couldn't help holding on to his dear memories of Maggie- the ones when she was sweet and innocent, and good-  
  
"All right." His consent was barely more than a sad whisper, but that was all that they'd been waiting for. Lily stood resolutely, taking a deep breath to reassure herself.  
  
"I'm off to tell Dumbledore."  
  
"Hang on," James said, climbing off the bed after his girlfriend. "I'll go with you."  
  
**************************  
  
Maggie slammed the door to the girls' dormitory, her mind reeling. This couldn't be happening- it wasn't supposed to work this way-  
  
Julia's words echoed loudly in her mind as she paced the room, "Maggie, they all think- we think- you're one of them. A death eater."  
  
Her own sister betrayed her. They were seeing it all wrong; didn't they get it? Even Julia was against her, her faithful twin who never left her side-  
  
And Sirius. Sitting down hard on the bed, Maggie felt tears collect in her eyes. Sirius even thought she was one of them. Julia had said all- that included Sirius. They'd just been getting so close again, too! Maggie was so sure that they were meant to be. But if he thought she was a death eater, then that must meant- that must mean he didn't care for her anymore. She was alone.  
  
Maggie's thoughts spun quickly, and she was unable to grasp what was going on. Julia had run from the hall after she'd told Maggie- so bluntly, without reason or support- scared of what Maggie might say or do.  
  
Of course, that had never been Julia's plan. She'd been against all of this "it's Maggie" business until she'd entered the hall- and seen her sister brooding darkly at the table Peter had so obviously just fled from.  
  
But Maggie didn't know that, and she was panicking. They thought she was in league with Voldemort. They thought she was like Peter.  
  
Maggie lay back on her bed, tears spilling out of her eyes and a knot formed tightly in her stomach. They couldn't think this, it was all wrong! Didn't they see? Couldn't they figure out what she'd really been up to?  
  
She'd been on to Peter ever since she saw him hanging out with some Slytherins after dark. Not enough to charge him, but it had made her suspicious. Then one night while she'd been up late in the common room, studying, she saw Peter disappear down through the portrait hole, dressed in all black. Curious, she'd followed him and found-  
  
She couldn't even think about it. How could they honestly think SHE was like HIM? She'd pretending to, sure, so she could get into the group. She'd gone to a meeting with him, even, just to get into their circle. She wanted to be sure what he was up to before she turned him in.  
  
But she needed more TIME. She'd gone to a second meeting, and slipped an extra ingredient in their pledge-potion that made it useless, hoping that she could persuade Peter that this wasn't the way to go.  
  
But he hadn't shown- and today at lunch, she'd let him know that she knew. She'd chosen her words carefully, trying to frighten him into abandoning his little group by telling him that she'd dispose of him if he kept it up. He couldn't play for both sides, and she didn't like traitors.  
  
But that hadn't gone over well. Earlier, when they'd all been fighting, Sirius had said-  
  
Oh, lord. Her stomach twisted violently as she realized, much too late, that Sirius had seen her that night in Kathar. Why hadn't she just turned Peter in when she found out?  
  
Maggie sat up suddenly, her heart beating way out of whack. There was someone coming up the stairs.  
  
In a moment Elisabeth burst into the dormitory and, spotting Maggie, hurried to her friend.  
  
"Maggie! I've just bumped into Lily and James- they've gone to tell Dumbledore you're a- a death eater!"  
  
"What?" Maggie asked bitterly, climbing off the bed. "And YOU don't think I'm one of them?"  
  
"I did- but then I realized at lunch today- it's Peter, isn't it?" Elisabeth looked at her friend, eyes wide.  
  
"But- but-" Maggie sputtered. "You yelled at me-"  
  
"And I THOUGHT you were-then- but after lunch I went off by myself, and I put things together. You've been so mean to Peter because HE'S the death eater, not you- you're just not the type."  
  
Maggie gazed at her friend, dumbfounded she'd been able to piece things together. But if Dumbledore was coming for her- that meant she was out of time. And there was only one thing left to do.  
  
"Elisabeth, I've got to leave," Maggie hurriedly ran to her trunk and grabbed her book-bag, dumping her schoolbooks on the floor. Shoving some clothes and money into it, she strapped it shut.  
  
"WHAT?" Elisabeth said in sheer surprise. "You-you can't leave! Dumbledore'll see right through it, he'll know you're innocent."  
  
"But how can you be sure?" Maggie asked, bending down to search under her bed for some good walking shoes. Finding some, she shoved her feet into them. "He might not- I haven't really been ACTING innocent- and Elisabeth, I need to get out. Now."  
  
Elisabeth still looked like the idea didn't agree with her, but she kept silent this time.  
  
"Elisabeth, don't you see? I can't risk that they'll think I'm- that I'm like Peter. Just-" It was getting hard to talk. "I have to go, Elisabeth. Tell them it wasn't me, and that I love them all. And tell Sirius-" she walked to the door, a lump in her throat as she prepared to depart. "Tell him I'm sorry."  
  
******************************** A/N: HAH! :) sorry im proud of my lil plot twist lol. Thanks so much to all reviewers!!! I hope you guys liked this chapter- I was gonna drag this twist out longer but then I got another idea! So review review REVIEW- I'm gonna have to set a standard, ten reviews before I update! LoL thanks a ton to all who did!!!! Luv, Cassi~ 


	14. Obliviate

A/n: sorry its been taking soooo damn long, its almost finals and things are crazy. But here it is- the fourteenth chapter! Only a few more left! *Tear*  
  
CHAPTER 14- MISTAKES WERE MADE  
  
Elisabeth stared after Maggie as she escaped down the staircase. That did NOT just happen. How could Maggie just leave like that? It was so, so stupid. Especially because Dumbledore would most likely know that she was innocent, so why had she run?  
  
She had to go after her. Heading out the door, forgetting to close it behind her, Elisabeth ran down the stairs to the common room. Halting at the bottom, she saw a person cloaked in black leaving hurriedly. Peter. They were alone, and this was her chance.  
  
"Traitor!" Elisabeth hissed, just loud enough for Peter to hear, and pulled out her wand. Peter spun and produced his wand from seemingly thin air, though he was actually already holding it.  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!" they yelled at the same time. The spells shot rapidly through the air- Elisabeth urged hers along in her mind, not thinking to do what Peter had already done, and move out of the way.  
  
Elisabeth was down in moments, her arms and legs as stiff and immovable as concrete.  
  
"What did she tell you?" Peter hurried over to Elisabeth, his beady eyes dark and his wand pointed at Elisabeth's forehead. He wasn't expecting an answer because, of course, Elisabeth couldn't talk. But Peter knew what had to be done, and it required no response from his blond-haired friend.  
  
"Obliviate!" Peter said, and a flash of light struck Elisabeth right across the face, instantly wiping her memory of everything that had happened in the last 48 hours. Peter wasn't sure what to do with her- she was just lying there, blinking dumbly at him - but he suddenly recalled something he'd heard Severus mutter once at a dedication ceremony. They'd been at in a Muggle town. One Muggle had stuck his nose into their business, and after yelling "Stupefy," Severus had said something else and moved the man's body to the side of the robe.  
  
Peter took a deep breath, his beady eyes watering. He was still the same old Peter- frightened and alone- but the darkness he'd recently been toying with made him feel superior to all of his friends, as if he knew something they didn't.  
  
"Mobilicorpus," Peter whispered. Instantly Elisabeth's body was floating in the air, following Peter as he guided her towards the tiny loo that was connected to the common room.  
  
Sticking Elisabeth inside, he said, "I'll be back," and closed the door. Muttering, "Moranis," the opposite of Alohamora, he ran away from the loo door and out towards the grounds. He'd already lost a lot of time.  
  
Twisting towards a passageway that lead towards the ground floor much more quickly than any real way, Peter disappeared inside and transformed into a rat. Making much better time than his larger human form would have taken him, he scurried out towards the forest.  
  
Outside Maggie ran along the forbidden forest, chills racking her body. She had to get away from everything- from Peter, from her friends who no longer believed her to be innocent. From Sirius.  
  
//Oh, God, Sirius// Maggie thought. She slowed at the thought of him, her heart pounding in her chest. They'd been so sure this time that they were together forever that they agreed to assume that's how it would be. But she had definitely not been expecting what happened a few nights ago.  
  
After dinner she and Sirius had taken a walk to the astrology tower to make out a bit- after all, they had to celebrate getting back together, right? -but Sirius had surprised Maggie by telling her they should get married. Maggie agreed that yes, they should, but not until they were much older.  
  
Sirius had looked into her eyes and told her gently that he didn't mean that; that he didn't want to wait any longer.  
  
Maggie wished with all of her might that she could go back to that night and redo everything that had happened since then. Just thinking about Sirius made her stomach drop and her heart beat at a crazy pace.  
  
"I'm sorry Sirius," Maggie whispered, tears streaming from her eyes as she stumbled along the trees. "I wish I would have said yes. I wish you were with me now."  
  
"Wish who was?"  
  
Maggie tripped at the sound of the voice and tumbled into a pile of brush, hitting her head on a tree trunk. Scrapes along her knees and a purple bruise already spreading rapidly across her right arm, she felt too achy to look up.  
  
"Oh, Maggie," Peter said, coming out from behind a tree. "I didn't mean to scare you!" He came over as though to help her up, though he stopped at her side, taking his wand out and twirling it.  
  
Maggie's mind moved in slow motion, though her heart beat rapidly. Peter was standing before her- PETER- and he knew now that she knew. She had to do something- had to move- but her head hurt too much to think even these obvious thoughts in less than a few minutes.  
  
"Well, well," Peter said, his usually squeaky voice sounding vicious and strong. Darkness does wonders to people's personalities, even if it's not a pleasant change.  
  
"All alone now, Maggie." Peter stopped twirling his wand and pointed it at her.  
  
"It's a shame I have to do this, Maggie," Peter said. "But you shouldn't have gone sticking your nose into my business. The dark lord is rising-" Peter's voice gave out on him, but he swallowed and continued, "and I plan on being at his side someday, ridding the world of filth."  
  
Maggie stared up at Peter with wide eyes, as he said quickly, "Memoricus Infinito!"  
  
Maggie felt a tingling as the spell hit her, wiping her present worries away and pushing the rest of her memories to the back of her mind. It wouldn't last forever; a good year at most; but it would be long enough to get rid of her. It was the most powerful spell Peter knew, and had he been able to, he would have done more damage right there. Although for now, the dumb look on Maggie's face was good enough. The spell had worked.  
  
"Where am I?" Maggie asked a moment later, her eyes vacant. She thought another moment. "WHO am I?"  
  
Peter sighed and said, "Oh, you poor, poor thing! I saw you slip over there, trying to get away from that wretched school. I don't blame you."  
  
"School?" Maggie looked back at the castle, the windows brightly lit and inviting. "Why was I leaving?"  
  
"It's a horrible place," Peter said, helping Maggie up. "No one ever goes there for fear of- death! You must get away as soon as you can!"  
  
"But where should I go?" Maggie asked him dumbly, climbing clumsily to her feet.  
  
"Anywhere, as long as it's far, far away! Go! Run!"  
  
Maggie stared a moment longer, then stumbled off towards the forest. Peter laughed quietly to himself. He wouldn't be dealing with her again for a long while.  
  
Turning towards the school, Peter began followed the inviting smells of dinner to the Great Hall. His future master would be proud of him.  
  
*****************  
  
Upstairs in the common room loo, Elisabeth was sitting on the toilet and trying to remember what had happened to her. The last thing she could remember clearly was going to sleep after finishing her divination- but what was she doing in the loo? And- wait- there was something else. She remembered something about Maggie. Like she was upset? Was that right? And there was a bright light in her face-  
  
And why was she sore? Her shoulders ached as though she'd fallen straight back on the floor. That was odd.  
  
Elisabeth stood and tried to open the door, but it was locked. She pushed on the lock, though it didn't budge. Sighing, she took out her wand.  
  
"Alohamora," she said impatiently, and the lock popped open. Stepping out into the common room, she definitely had a big feeling of de ja vu. Wasn't she just here?  
  
Apparently Peter's spell wasn't working as well as he'd intended. He always was a hopeless wizard, after all. And darkness can only give you so much more power.  
  
Shrugging, Elisabeth started up to the boys' dormitory. Maybe she'd see what Remus was up to-  
  
She stopped. He was in the shrieking shack. That was right. And besides, he liked Julia.  
  
Wait. Where had that come from? She could vaguely recall a conversation at lunch once, when she and Julia had gotten into quite a row- but she couldn't really recall it.  
  
Afraid she was cracking up, Elisabeth headed to her own dormitory. Maybe she needed to lie down for a bit.  
  
Climbing the stairs to her room, she noticed the door was open. Too confused to care, Elisabeth closed it and fell onto her bed, eager for sleep.  
  
****************  
  
Maggie walked along the rode that lead away from Hogwarts, nearly two miles away already, though she'd stopped running a while back. Whistling a tune to herself though she couldn't remember where she'd heard it before, she struggled with her memory. What was her name again? She must have hit her head harder than she thought.  
  
Peter. She remembered that name. But that wasn't her, was it? No, Peter was a bad person. But what did he look like again? And how did she know him? She remembered being mad at someone named Peter, and talking to someone about him-  
  
Elisabeth. The name popped into her head. It sounded familiar, so maybe that was her name. She swayed as she walked on the road. Little did she know, she was suffering from a concussion. Though it wasn't her best move, Maggie decided she needed to lie down. She turned off the road, heading in the direction that she knew would bring her to a little town called Pig-something. Or was it Hog-something? She wondered how she knew that.  
  
Sighing, Maggie continued down the road until she came into the popular little wizarding town of Hogsmede. Trudging up the street, she read signs until she came to one that read "Miss Manderly's Magical Inn." Pushing the heavy wood door open, Maggie stepped in and looked around.  
  
And old woman looked up from a large hickory desk and moved smoothly towards Maggie. Her dark maroon robes skimmed the floor, and the tips of highly polished black boots protruded from the hemline very slightly.  
  
"May I help you, dear?" the woman asked kindly, looking at Maggie as though she were a lost child. The funny thing was, that's pretty much how Maggie felt.  
  
"I need a room," Maggie said, looking at nothing in particular. The woman stared at Maggie, as though sizing her up, and asked, "You don't go to the school, do you?"  
  
"No," Maggie answered truthfully - she had no recollection of it after all. "I'm just looking for a room- for one night," she added. The woman continued to gaze at Maggie, but in a moment her mouth formed a straight line. Turning on one black-booted heel, she walked behind the hickory desk and pulled out a key.  
  
"Seventeen sickels, please."  
  
Maggie stared blankly. What was a sickel?  
  
And image suddenly flashed through her mind of a game she'd played once with a group of people. Friends? Probably. They were betting on it, and one with extremely shaggy black hair and brown eyes was exclaiming over the amount of sickels he'd won.  
  
"Erm," Maggie said, reaching into the pocket of her robe and coming up with nothing.  
  
The woman continued to look at Maggie, the wrinkles on her face turned into a slight smile. She couldn't be very old, though she was definitely older than anyone Maggie could remember. Then again, that wasn't very many people.  
  
"Muggle-born?" the woman asked. Maggie thought a moment. If she remembered right, Muggles were non-magical. But was she one of them? She wasn't sure.  
  
"It's all right dear," the woman said kindly. "I've got all my rooms booked next week anyway, one night's pay won't matter much. But how about if in the morning you sweep up your room?"  
  
Maggie nodded and reached out for the key, glad to have somewhere warm to sit and think for awhile.  
  
***********************************  
  
It had never occurred to Lily or James that Dumbledore may not be in his office. According to Professor Whettle, the potions master and the only professor they could locate, Dumbledore had gone off for the weekend on "private business that did not concern the students."  
  
"Nevermind that we're the head students," James grumbled angrily as he and Lily walked towards Gryffindor tower, away from Whettle's horrid smelling dungeon office. "Apparently to Whettle we're still just little kids."  
  
Lily walked alongside James in silence, thinking the exact same thing. This was serious, serious stuff, and Whettle couldn't be BOTHERED? Please! What might happen between now and when Dumbledore got back? They couldn't very well tell Whettle what was going on, he was the Slytherin head, after all.  
  
"Lily?" James asked for the third time, though apparently his girlfriend wasn't listening.  
  
"Hmm?" Lily asked, snapping out of her internal tirade on Whettle.  
  
"I asked if you thought we should head to the owlery and send a note to Dumbledore?"  
  
"Oh," Lily said, thinking it over. They did need to tell Dumbledore, but was it that urgent that they had to pull him out of wherever he was? What if he was in a meeting with the Minister of Magic, or something? He couldn't be bothered by the suspicions of a bunch of kids.  
  
Lily stopped dead in the hallway, threw her head back, and laughed.  
  
"Um, Lily?" James stopped just ahead of her, slightly startled and extremely confused.  
  
"I'm all right," Lily laughed, stepping forward to take James's arm. "I just realized that Whettle might have some truth to what he was saying."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Shh." Lily looped her arm through James's and urged him to keep walking, though at a much slower pace than they had been going.  
  
"I just mean, what if Dumbledore is doing something really important? We're not even that sure that Maggie is-"  
  
"But we can't risk it."  
  
"We can for just another day, at least. It would take that long for an owl to reach him, anyway."  
  
"So let's send one!"  
  
Lily shook her head, smiling slightly. Realizing that perhaps Whettle had a point had made her severely lighthearted. After all, he was a professor. He knew what was going on. And if they weren't that sure about Maggie, why bother Dumbledore right away? It wasn't that urgent.  
  
But James still thought it was. So Lily did the only thing she could think of to make him calm down a bit- she stepped in front of him and kissed him very gently.  
  
James stopped, startled though not unhappy. He pulled back a moment later, looking into Lily's shining green eyes that he loved so well.  
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"Just a reminder that I love you," Lily said, her arms still around James. "And that we don't have to save the world. We're only seventeen, after all."  
  
James looked at his girlfriend, feeling light inside. But he couldn't let that last statement get through without argument.  
  
"No, we don't," he said, pulling her over to the wall and sitting down. "But I'd like to at least try to save the wizarding world from Voldemort. Or at least help stop him."  
  
"James," Lily said, sitting next to him. "I agree completely, but we're not going to be able to do that by telling Dumbledore that we have suspicions our friend might- MIGHT -be a death eater."  
  
James slowly nodded, realizing that Lily had a point. He just wanted to help out so badly, he couldn't help but think that he should turn in Maggie.  
  
He stopped. A little thought in the back of his mind had just made him realize that Lily had said "WE'RE not going to be able to." We.  
  
"We're not going to?" James asked, emphasizing the first word. Lily looked at him as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
"Of course," she said, looking up at him. "I'm not letting you go off and be all heroic on your own."  
  
James thought about that as Lily put her head on his shoulder, thankful for a few moments' rest. Not for the first time, thoughts of spending his life after Hogwarts with Lily entered his mind. But they had always been somewhat far-away, as though it were a dream that would just happen. He'd never considered how to get there.  
  
Now, though- the thought made James nervous, scared, and ecstatically happy all at the same time. It had just occurred to him that if he wanted to spend his life with Lily, he was going to have to marry her first. And that didn't sound like such a bad idea. Once all this Voldemort stuff had passed, and they'd graduated-  
  
The thought made him grin madly, and he turned his head to kiss Lily's forehead. She sighed happily, adding to his anticipation. Yes, it would be perfect.  
  
He'd just have to hope nothing happened between now and then. Because by the looks of things, some of them might not make it until graduation.  
  
********************  
  
A/n: I think that is possibly the most random chapter I have ever written. I personally hate it, so I might replace it. The only reason it'll stay is for Lily and James- I've deprived you of them for so long! Well anyway, try not to be too harsh in your reviews. Love to all! Luv, Cassi~ 


	15. I'm Sorry It Had To End Like This

A/N: Yeah, so I left chapter 14 up!!! Um, I think there are only gonna be about 3 to 4 chapters left, but don't quote me on that, I'll probably come up with some weird twist again! Haha, well, carry on!  
  
CHAPTER 15- I'M SORRY IT HAD TO END LIKE THIS  
  
Peter finished dinner alone, constantly congratulating himself (inwardly) on the fine job taking care of Maggie and Elisabeth. But he knew, in the back of his mind, that he couldn't leave them like that, he wasn't strong enough to put a fully-effective memory charm on anyone. He was willing to bet his friends were pretty confused right now. It was sort of amusing, actually. He let out a little chuckle and dug into his sixth helping of mashed potatoes.  
  
The great hall wasn't very crowded, at least on the Gryffindor side. Gathered along the end of the Slytherin table, however, was a group of sixth and seventh years. Leaning in towards the middle of the table, one of them seemed to be telling a story of some sort. The others were sitting with hard looks on their faces. Something was definitely up.  
  
Of course, Peter wasn't observant enough to see this.  
  
"Pettigrew." Peter jumped at the voice, though he recognized it. Turning on the bench, Peter smiled a beady-eyed smile at the Slytherin standing there.  
  
"Lestrange, sit down," Peter beckoned to his friend, though he was shaking a bit. Jack Lestrange gave him a look that said, "are you crazy?"  
  
"We can't be seen talking together," Lestrange muttered. "Meet me and Nott along the forbidden forest at nine o'clock. DON'T be late."  
  
Gulping, Peter nodded once and turned back to his dinner, feeling very business-like. He couldn't wait to tell Lestrange and Nott about his spells.  
  
*********************  
  
Upstairs that night, Elisabeth slept in a cold and lonely room. Lily had fallen asleep in James's arms in the boys' dorm, and Julia slept peacefully on Remus's bed. Though Peter was down on the grounds, he wasn't the only one awake. Sirius lay staring at the underside of the canopy, the curtains pulled shut around him.  
  
How could Maggie do this to him? To them all? To herself? She couldn't be a death eater, Sirius thought, he wouldn't believe it. But in the back of his mind a little voice was whispering things to him, his sensible mind drawing the sensible conclusion. But his heart knew it was wrong.  
  
So where was Maggie now? Lily and James had said something about sending an owl to Dumbledore in the morning, so they didn't seem too worried about it. But she couldn't be lying in her room, sleeping, it just didn't make sense.  
  
Sighing, Sirius rolled over and faced the other curtains. Maybe she'd run away. He almost laughed; running away from Hogwarts was possibly the stupidest thing he could think of. Then again, it would be like Maggie to do so. And if she found out they were on to her- no, not on to her, unrightfully suspicious- then - would she?  
  
STOP, Sirius thought, and rolled over on to his back. Maggie had to be safe, wherever she was. But that was silly, she wasn't anywhere but sleeping peacefully in her bed. He had to stop being to paranoid.  
  
But in fact, Maggie wasn't in her warm bed, sharing whispered secrets with the girls as they got ready to sleep. She was miles away in Hogsmede, tossing about in a fitful sleep full of dreams of a wand to her head, and of a dark-haired boy with dark eyes, who kept asking her to marry him.  
  
****************  
  
Down on the grounds, Peter slunk furtively along the trees, towards Nott and Lestrange. It had grown quite cold out, and his breath showed in the pale moonlight. Glancing up at the huge orb in the sky, Peter noted to himself that Remus should be getting back to the castle tomorrow sometime.  
  
"Pettigrew, so glad you could join us." Peter nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Lestrange's voice. He'd nearly missed him, what with the black robes blending in to the surrounding darkness. Peter turned into the trees.  
  
"I have- good news!" Peter squeaked, hurrying to his friends, but Nott held up a hand.  
  
"We don't. It seems that someone has sabotaged the potion from out pledge ceremony."  
  
"What?" Peter took an involuntary step back. "What-what sort of sabotage?"  
  
"They slipped something in it," Nott said, stepping closer to Peter and glaring at him with black eyes. "Something that made it worthless." Peter gulped.  
  
"I didn't spend three months making that potion just to do it again, Pettigrew," Lestrange said, leaning against a tree and twirling his wand in his fingers. He pushed off from the giant oak and strolled closer to Peter. "You weren't there that night, Peter. I seem to remember you taking the potion separately, the next day. You wouldn't have-let's see- tried to make sure we wouldn't be accepted by the dark lord when the day comes, would you Peter? You wouldn't do that to us. Or would you?"  
  
He abruptly stopped twirling the wand and pointed it straight at Peter, making green sparks fly from the end. Peter jumped and almost scurried behind a tree, though he held himself to the spot.  
  
"N-no! I would n-never!" Peter stepped back a few steps, but then held tight. He had to look not guilty, because after all, he wasn't.  
  
"Really?" Nott glanced at Lestrange, and they exchanged a look. "Then tell me, Pettigrew, do you know someone who WOULD?"  
  
"Yes!" Peter nearly cried in relief. "It was Maggie! I'm sure of it."  
  
"Maggie?" Nott scratched his head. "Oh, that one from your house? The good-looking one."  
  
"HOW do you know it's her, Pettigrew?" Lestrange asked, making the point to get Nott back on track by raising his voice. Nott looked at Lestrange with a blank expression and turned to hear Peter's explanation.  
  
"Because! Because!" Peter could barely contain himself. "She knew about me! And then she went to that gathering to confront me, but I didn't go! And so she must have snuck something into the cauldron, because- she said she didn't trust traitors! And-and- oh, but I took care of her."  
  
Lestrange and Nott nearly froze in surprise.  
  
"You what?"  
  
"Took care of her! I put a memory charm on her," Peter said proudly, though he wavered a moment later, "then again, I'm not sure how well it worked. I'm not sure about Elisabeth's either."  
  
"Elisabeth?" Lestrange and Nott exchanged glances.  
  
"She knew," Peter said, glaring at nothing in particular. "But now, I'm not sure if she does or not. Know ANYTHING, that is." He gave a small laugh.  
  
Lestrange smacked a hand to his forehead, and Nott kicked a rock in frustration.  
  
"Peter, why didn't you tell us? You know that Lestrange is gifted in that area," Nott scolded Peter.  
  
"How much did she know?" Lestrange cut in.  
  
"A lot."  
  
"And this Elisabeth?"  
  
"I think a simple, well, placed 'obliviate' charm will work," Peter nearly whimpered, disappointed that his spellwork was being completely trashed.  
  
"Okay. Lestrange, you take care of that," Nott said. "And this Maggie- well, we'll have to do something about her."  
  
"But how are we going to find her?" Lestrange asked. "She could be anywhere."  
  
"Well, we'll do a locating charm. But we need something of hers to do it."  
  
"There's things in her dorm-" Peter suggested, and Lestrange nodded shortly, shifting his weight to his right foot.  
  
"Peter, you'll need to lead me to Elisabeth's dorm. Let's hope she's in there. Then we can take one of Maggie's things and bring it to Nott." Turning on his heel, he began walking towards the castle. In a short moment, Peter followed.  
  
*****************  
  
Upstairs Elisabeth tossed and turned violently. She was having a dream that a friend of hers had run away, but she couldn't tell who it was. The dream Elisabeth was chasing her, but things were flashing by too quickly- the trees were blury- the girl ahead of her darted in and out of the trees-  
  
The dream Elisabeth gazed up at the moon, thinking to herself that she hoped Remus was all right. The clouds above blew swiftly past the glowing full moon, casting odd shadows about the grounds. Dream Elisabeth focused her mind on chasing that girl ahead of her- she knew something bad would happen if she let the girl get away.  
  
Dream Elisabeth jumped as an owl flew overhead, carrying a letter and trying to reach Elisabeth. But Elisabeth couldn't let the girl get away, so instead she raced the owl along the forbidden forest, keeping after the tall girl in front of her.  
  
CRACK. Lightning flashed across the sky, striking something off in the distance. But how could it be raining if there were no clouds? Dream Elisabeth looked up, but at that moment she fell, and the owl swooped down to drop the letter. The girl had disappeared.  
  
Dream Elisabeth angrily pulled the letter off of the muddy ground and tore it open. Inside was a small note, with three simple lines scrawled across it:  
  
Tell Sirius I'm sorry. I'm sorry it had to end like this. I love you all.  
  
There was no signature, but somehow Dream Elisabeth knew it was from the girl she'd been chasing. Sobbing, Dream Elisabeth bent over the note and cradled it in her hands, rocking back and forth on her heels.  
  
******************  
  
"This is it." Peter, Lestrange, and Nott stood just outside the room where Elisabeth slept so horribly, whispering in the darkness of the staircase.  
  
"Let's hope she's in there," Nott said, taking a short breath and then pushing the door open silently.  
  
Waving to the other two, Nott crept slowly into the room and towards the beds, wondering which one was Maggie's.  
  
"Petigrew," he hissed in question, but Peter just stared blankly. Nott motioned at each of the beds, nearly stamping his foot in impatience, but Peter caught on. Slinking over to the one nearest the window, Peter found Maggie's trunk and unhooked the latch.  
  
Across the room Lestrange was standing over Elisabeth, with his wand out. She was tossing and turning so much that it was hard to get a good aim at her forehead.  
  
Finally, he whispered, "Arreter," and she jolted and lay still, as though she'd fallen flat onto her back.  
  
Pointing his wand at her forehead, Lestrange pushed all other thoughts into the back of his mind and said, "Obliviate."  
  
With a blinding flash the spell struck Elisabeth, and she jumped again. Suddenly teary-eyed, the still-asleep Elisabeth began rocking back and forth, muttering, "Maggie, Maggie."  
  
"What?" Lestrange exclaimed, and Nott and Peter hurried over, leaving Maggie's trunk forgotten behind them.  
  
"Did it work?" Peter asked stupidly.  
  
"Does it LOOK like it?" Nott snapped. "Try one a bit heavier."  
  
"But we don't want her to forget everything, it will be too suspicious if she can't remember who she is."  
  
"Try it again," Peter suggested. Lestrange stared for a moment, then whirled around and shouted, "Obliviate!"  
  
Elisabeth lay still, her tears stopping and her crying no more. For a moment the three just stared at her, but when she reached a hand up to push some hair from her forehead, they panicked.  
  
"Get something and let's GO!" Lestrange hissed. Nott ran for Maggie's trunk, grabbed a shirt out of it, and ran for the door. Peter and Lestrange ran out just behind him, and as they slammed the door, Elisabeth sat up.  
  
"Hmm?" Elisabeth muttered sleepily. "What's going on?" She stared at the closed door, then as though suddenly feeling very tired, she slumped back onto her bed.  
  
She had no more dreams.  
  
*************************  
  
"Okay," Nott said nearly two hours later, "I've got it this time. Peter, tear me another bit of the shirt."  
  
Peter did as he was told, tearing a corner of the sleeve and handing it to Nott.  
  
"Okay." Nott took a deep breath, then dropped the square of fabric to the floor and pointed his wand to it.  
  
"Cherche," he said, then lifted his wand and said, "Point me."  
  
The wand spun off in the direction of Hogsmede. With a quick look at one another, Nott, Lestrange and Peter took off towards the door. But when they got to the corridor with the statue of a witch in it, Peter stopped them.  
  
"I have a better way." Walking up to the witch, he tapped it with his wand and said, "Dissendium." Climbing into the hidden tunnel, they were off towards Hogsmede.  
  
*****************************  
  
In her room in Miss Manderly's Inn, Maggie woke abruptly. For some reason it felt as though the pit of her stomach had dropped out, and a nervous sweat trickled down her forehead. Something wasn't right, she wasn't supposed to be here. It was too dangerous, she had to get back to the school. NOW.  
  
Jumping off the bed and forgetting her bag behind her, Maggie rushed towards the door only to find it locked.  
  
"What!?" Fumbling in her pocket, she produced a wand, though she couldn't remember any spells that would work.  
  
"Um-um, Wingardi- no, that's not it, -Avada K- no, no, not that one. Priori Incantatem?"  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"DAMN!" Abandoning the door, Maggie ran frantically for the window, like a trapped bird. She wasn't quite sure why she was so upset, but she knew that if she were found out of the school she was going to be in BIG trouble.  
  
Getting to the window, Maggie's heart stopped. Below her three dark- cloaked figures were advancing quickly, one with a wand pointed up at her. She sobbed and ran from the window, not stopping when a burst of wind and light shattered it behind her.  
  
With a great swooping noise, two owls flew into the room, a rat on one of their backs. In a moment they settled on the floor and, with Maggie watching in horror, transformed into humans. Three teenage boys, to be exact.  
  
"Maggie," one of them said, stepping sweetly towards her and reaching a hand out to touch her face. She slapped it away.  
  
"Now, now," the boy said reproachfully. Maggie couldn't help but notice that he was tall and rather good-looking.  
  
"Maggie, what is his name?" the boy asked, pointing to a short, chubby boy standing where the rat had been. Maggie thought hard, though it came to her surprisingly quickly.  
  
"P-peter," she said. "The traitor."  
  
The three boys looked at each other.  
  
"She knows too much," Nott muttered. "There's no other choice."  
  
"I agree." Lestrange and Nott lifted their wands.  
  
"Avada-"  
  
"WAIT!" Peter startled his friends into stopping their spell. His beady eyes were very round and frightened. They certainly hadn't discussed THIS option.  
  
"You can't kill her!" he exclaimed. "She- she- what will Dumbledore do?"  
  
"What CAN he do, if she's dead? Now shutup, Peter, let's just get this over with and leave."  
  
Lestrange and Nott held their arms out again. "Avada K-"  
  
"But what'll we do with her body?" Peter jumped in. Lestrange sighed loudly and smacked his wand to his side.  
  
"LEAVE. IT. HERE," he said impatiently. Turning on Maggie, Nott and Lestrange advanced towards her, cornering her. Inside Maggie sobbed violently, all of her memories suddenly flowing back. Her mother, her sisters, Julia, her friends, Hogwarts, Sirius-  
  
Oh god. And this was it? This was how it ended? She had no other chance, no way to escape. If only she could send a note to them, tell them all she loved them and tell Sirius- tell Sirius to go on without her. She'd wait for him, wherever you went when you died.  
  
But Maggie was a fighter at heart, and she wouldn't go quietly. With a swift motion, she pulled her wand out and whirled it at Nott, shouting, "Expelliarmus!"  
  
Lestrange laughed violently as Nott flew backwards onto the floor.  
  
"You stupid girl!" he exclaimed. "You can't fight it. You're going to die right here, tonight, in this dark, lonely room. With no one to say goodbye!"  
  
She pointed her wand at Lestrange, but he was faster.  
  
"Expelliarmus!" her wand flew backwards and hit the wall, cracking in two. Now Maggie really was scared, there was no way out this time. Except-  
  
"Peter, Peter, you can't do this, you can't let him do this! I kept your secret, I didn't rat you out, please Peter you can't kill your friend, what will everyone think of you?"  
  
Peter tried to cover his ears and shut out her pleas, but they were boaring into him like sharp knives. He sank to his knees.  
  
"Stop," Lestrange commanded. "The dark lord will be proud of me for this! Avada K-"  
  
"PETER!" Maggie shrieked. "Tell them all I love them! Tell Sirius!"  
  
"-EDAVARA!" A green light burst from the end of Lestrange's wand and Maggie crumpled to the floor.  
  
There was silence a few moments. Maggie's lifeless body showed Peter he wouldn't have to check her pulse. She was dead, and there was nothing he could do.  
  
********************  
  
Peter sat up in the owlerly, feeling guilty and proud at the same time. Proud his secret was kept, proud he'd assisted in such a daring murder. Lord Voldemort would be pleased.  
  
Yet at the same time, he'd abandoned his friend. Beautiful Maggie was dead, and he hadn't tried to stop it. No one would find her body for at least another twelve hours.  
  
Peter began to feel lonely, though he was surrounded by at least a few hundred owls. Fumbling in his pocket for a scrap of paper and a quill, he pulled them out. A bit of ink still shone on the end of the quill, so if he were going to give Maggie her dying wish, he'd have to make it short.  
  
Peter fought with himself the whole time he scribbled out the note. Voldemort wouldn't be happy he'd given her her dying wish. It would take that much longer for Peter to climb the ranks within the death eaters. It would be years before Voldemort would even know his name.  
  
But in the blue light of the early morning hours there was enough sadness and guilt in Peter to help him scribble out the note. They'd be happy to receive it, and she would have been thankful he sent it.  
  
Just before he tied it to the leg of a school owl, Peter took one last look at the note. He had a feeling many tears would be shed in the boys' dormitory when this was read in a few hours time, but he had to do it:  
  
Tell Sirius I'm sorry. I'm sorry it had to end like this. I love you all.  
  
-Maggie.  
  
**********************************  
  
A/N: You like? I've been working on this forever, I think I've finally got it right. I hope you guys all liked this chapter, I sorta was proud of Peter at the end, lol. Anyway, review review and tell what you think! Luv, Cassi~ 


	16. To Maggie

A/N: well this is gonna be a fairly short chapter, shorter than the others anyway! Thanks a bunch for all of the reviews on the last chap, I love you ALL!!!! Only two chapters left, it's fully decided, there's not much else I can do with this fic! Anyways, read read!  
  
CHAPTER 16-To Maggie  
  
"Julia?" Remus knocked on the door to the girls' dormitory, holding a mug in his left hand. Peering through the partially open door, he saw Julia lying on her bed, staring forlornly at the underside of her canopy. Deciding to risk getting snapped at, as was happening a lot with Julia and the others lately, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.  
  
Walking over to her bed, Remus set the cup on the window sill and sat down by her feet. She didn't even flinch.  
  
"Julia," Remus said again. She blinked to acknowledge she'd heard him, though she didn't make any move to invite conversation. Remus felt the urge to hold her, or stroke her hair, but he was sort of unsure of everything that had been going on. He'd been told, of course, but he hadn't really experienced much. He hadn't even been there when they received the note. But when the body was found - he remembered that. The funeral that had followed three days later hadn't been much fun, either.  
  
But by far his biggest concern at the moment was Julia. It'd been seven days since Maggie's body was found, and Julia had shown absolutely no sign of improvement. She didn't even smile when Dumbledore informed her she would be excused from any tests in the next few months, though she would still take finals. She simply nodded and returned to her room, staring at the top of her bed and thinking.  
  
"How are you today?" Remus asked, unsure of what else to say. Julia remained silent, but he could see her eyes glistening. He watched her a few moments as her breath quickened and a few shiny tears rolled down her cheeks and hit the pillow beneath her.  
  
Not sure whether to leave or comfort her, Remus stood and sort of hesitated in the middle of the room.  
  
"I was just remembering," Julia's voice croaked from her bed, to Remus's great surprise, "the time we went to France and Maggie ordered room service without telling mum. She was so surprised when three platters of eclairs showed up at the hotel door." Julia tried for a smile, but all that happened was her mouth quavered. She sniffed loudly.  
  
Walking over to her bed, Remus sat down closer to her now and looked at her sadly. He wasn't sure quite what to say, though Julia seemed to be talking now.  
  
"It's so weird," Julia commented, sniffing again and wiping her nose with the sleeve of her robe. "I feel like this huge part of me is missing. I feel like I don't know what happened to her, but I also feel like I was there. She was innocent, Remus."  
  
Remus reached out and put a hand on her arm, still unwilling to say much for fear of making Julia mad.  
  
"They say twins have an internal connection," Julia said. "I woke up around one thirty or two that night. I knew something was wrong right away, but it never occurred that something this- this-"  
  
Julia stopped talking as her tears got the best of her. Sitting up, she pointed to the table at the far end of the room where a box of tissues sat. Remus gladly got up and got it for her.  
  
Taking the tissues from Remus and blowing her nose, she said quietly, "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome," Remus replied, putting his hand back on her arm. She smiled weakly at him.  
  
"I miss her so much," Julia said, leaning forward to rest her forehead on Remus's arm. She needed to stop lying around, so desperately that she wanted to scream. Yet she felt incapable of getting back into the school life. After all, it hadn't even been a week yet.  
  
"I know, Julia," Remus said, lifting his free arm up to push some hair out of her face. "But we're still here."  
  
Julia sniffed again. "I know. But it's so weird without her. I never noticed these things before, but I missed her snoring at night, and the way she'd throw things at me in the morning to wake me up so that I'd have to shower first and she could sleep longer. I miss her staring at Sirius night and day and then whispering about her at night. You know, I think he proposed."  
  
"What?" Remus certainly had some input on that subject. "Why do you think? Did she tell you?"  
  
Julia shook her head. "But she had this look about her, it was weird. She just seemed different. But in a good way."  
  
Remus just stared at Julia. He felt so bad for her, he couldn't imagine loosing a sibling, let alone your twin. It had to be the most awful thing in the world. Then again, maybe he had an idea.  
  
"You want to know a stupid piece of advice I was given when my parents died?" Remus asked Julia, absently stroking hair from her face again. Julia looked at him as if to say yes.  
  
"Sirius looked at me very seriously and said, 'Don't ever try to think it's your fault, Remy, because if it was we would make sure you knew.'"  
  
Julia stared at Remus a moment, then burst out laughing. "That's horrible!"  
  
Remus grinned, "I know, but hey, that Sirius for you."  
  
Still giggling slightly, Julia blew her very red nose again. After a moment or two she said, "I suppose I should eat something sometime, I've been feeling faint."  
  
"I think you should join us at dinner tonight," Remus said. "I brought you some hot butterbeer, but it's probably cold by now."  
  
Julia grinned a bit. "Thanks, Remus." She reached out for a quick hug.  
  
Or maybe not so quick. Julia held on to Remus, and he wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"Thank you for listening," Julia said. Remus chuckled.  
  
"It's the least," he said simply, implying he could do more to make her feel better. "Are you coming to dinner?"  
  
"Um, maybe," she said, pulling back and sniffing again. She smiled slightly at him. "Just give me a little more time."  
  
"Okay," Remus said, standing up. "Hopefully we'll see a bit more of you soon." With a grin at her, he left the room and slowly closed the door behind him.  
  
**************************  
  
Downstairs at dinner James, Lily, and Elisabeth were in deep conversation. Sirius was in his room, pretty much in the same condition as Julia. Peter was nowhere to be found.  
  
"I swear, it was the same message," Elisabeth said urgently. "Isn't that weird?"  
  
"Yeah, but in a dream?" James was skeptical. Elisabeth nodded quickly.  
  
"And another thing, I don't really remember what happened the two days before that."  
  
"Maybe Maggie put a memory charm on you," Lily suggested sadly, but Elisabeth shook her head.  
  
"I have the strangest feeling it wasn't her. I remember, very vaguely, talking to her for a while the day before she- left. It's odd that that should stand out, but she seemed really upset. She seemed to think people were thinking wrongly. I think she was innocent."  
  
Lily and James looked at their plates, holding hands under the table. The food hadn't appeared yet, but that was fine with them. None of them had been eating much lately, even Peter.  
  
"I'd like to think she is- was," Lily corrected herself. "The night before we were going to send an owl to Dumbledore, and I remember thinking, 'Nah, it can wait.' But I didn't really have any valid reasoning- except that somewhere I knew Maggie couldn't be like that."  
  
James looked at his two female friends sadly. He knew they'd lost a great friend, and so had he, though perhaps not to the same extent.  
  
"They're sure it was the- the killing curse, right?" he asked. Lily nodded.  
  
"That's what Dumbledore said when he got back."  
  
James thought quickly to himself. He remembered that look Sirius had, that air about him after that night at Kathar, but Voldemort couldn't have-  
  
"Excuse me," James said, and standing, hurried out of the great hall, leaving two very confused girls behind him.  
  
*****************************  
  
Sirius was sitting up when James entered their dormitory. The very shabby looking Sirius looked at his best friend as he entered.  
  
"I was just coming to get dinner," he said. James didn't reply, and instead sat down next to Sirius.  
  
"How are you?" James looked seriously at his friend. It wasn't often they were serious, but these days things had been odd.  
  
"All right," Sirius lied. He stared at the floor a while.  
  
"You miss her," James pointed out obviously, and Sirius nodded.  
  
"I- I loved her," he muttered. He wasn't very good at this, but he had to tell someone. He was tired of keeping it bottled up.  
  
"I wanted to marry her," he continued. James's eyes widened, but he said nothing.  
  
"She didn't want to yet, though," he said. Silence. "I wish I could have said goodbye."  
  
"You gave a nice speech at her funeral, her family was crying and everything," James comforted his friend. Sirius shook his head, still staring directly at the floor.  
  
"It's too bad she left when everyone thought so highly of her, she was a great girl," James prompted Sirius, expecting an argument that Maggie was innocent. But instead Sirius just nodded.  
  
"Then again," James said slowly, "A killing curse killed her, and why would Voldemort kill one of his own? Unless she was innocent-"  
  
Sirius looked up sharply, a glint in his eye that hadn't been there before.  
  
"Yeah," Sirius said. "Unless- she was innocent. She WAS innocent." Suddenly looking sad again, he said, "Oh god, and we accused her-"  
  
James looked sadly at his best friend, who now looked near tears.  
  
"How do you know it was Voldemort?" Sirius asked stupidly. James gazed at Sirius and responded, "Because, who else do you know that uses the killing curse so freely?"  
  
"True." Sirius stared at the floor some more.  
  
"Sirius," James said, tired of seeing his friend so downtrodden, "there's nothing any of us could have done. If we hadn't accused her someone else may have. And besides, she didn't blame us. The note, remember? She loved us all. Especially you."  
  
Sirius looked up, his eyes still clouded over, but he looked a bit more healed. Of course, it would take a long time before it didn't sting for any of them, but at least a little healed was a start.  
  
For a moment they just looked at each other, then Sirius said quietly, "Think it's about time for some food?"  
  
"I think so," James agreed. "Let's go."  
  
*************************  
  
Down in the dining hall Peter had turned up from wherever he'd been to join his friends, and Lily, Elisabeth, and Remus were all bent over in conversation. As James and Sirius entered they scooted over to make room. Sirius looked around.  
  
"No Julia?" he asked. For some reason recently he'd been feeling very protective of Julia. Like watching her would be a favor to Maggie.  
  
Remus shrugged. "She actually said she might join us," he commented. Then looking up at Dumbledore, who was just coming into the hall to signal that dinner was about to begin, he sighed. "I wish she would."  
  
The others nodded gravely. Lily and James caught each others' hand under the table and James gave Lily's a reassuring squeeze. Lily sighed.  
  
The others looked expectantly at their plates, hoping for the food to appear. But to their great surprise, all that happened was that Dumbledore tapped his glass for attention.  
  
"Students, please, quiet down. Quiet down."  
  
The hall quieted, except for the creak of the doors opening. Turning to look, the six Gryffindors caught sight of Julia slipping along the wall towards them. Remus gladly made room, and she sat next to him. He gave her arm a quick squeeze and turned his attention back to Dumbledore.  
  
"It has come to my attention that no one properly informed the school of the happenings of days past while I was gone. I shall, therefore, bring you up to date.  
  
"Today marks one week since a terrible tragedy that took the life of one of our students."  
  
A small murmuring began where people who hadn't heard yet whispered and wondered who had died.  
  
"Miss Maggie Beaumont of Gryffindor house, seventh year and exceptional potions student, was unfortunately hit with the killing curse. Though the reasoning is unclear, many believe this to be the work of lord Voldemort.  
  
"I encourage any students who may know of anything related to this to report to a teacher as soon as possible, for Maggie's sake. But for now we'll just leave a simple word to comfort those she left behind. Kindly fill and raise your glasses."  
  
Pitchers and bottles of sparkling grape juice suddenly appeared in great quantity on the house tables, and all of the students (though few Slytherins did) filled their glasses and held them to the middle of the table.  
  
Julia, Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, Peter and Elisabeth held their glasses together and gazed at each other, silently offering comfort and support. Julia took Remus's arm with her free hand, and Lily slipped an arm around Sirius. He smiled sadly.  
  
Dumbledore gazed slowly around the hall, his eyes landing on the seventh year Gryffindors who stood so close together at the far end of the table. He couldn't imagine how hard this was for all of them, Sirius and Julia especially. But he knew the others would help dull the pain as best they could, and with this thought, he turned his attention back on the school. Seeing the majority of the students with their glasses raised, Dumbledore raised his own and said clearly, "To Maggie."  
  
"To Maggie," the great hall responded, and with a clinking of glasses they all drank to Maggie.  
  
***********************  
  
a/n: so it ended up not so short! I hope you guys liked this, I tried to make sure her memory wasn't thought of badly and to show Julia and Sirius healing a bit. Review Review Review, thanks SOOOO much for all the reviews on the last chapter! Only two left! Luv, Cassi~ 


	17. Coincidence

CHAPTER 17- COINCIDENCE  
  
"Five weeks left!" James's overly cheery voice woke the boys early one Monday morning in late April. Over the past three months it had been James's ritual to tell Sirius, Remus, and Peter exactly how long was left to graduation. At first it had been fun, but now-  
  
"Oomph!" James fell backwards onto his bed as a pillow (thrown by Sirius) smacked him hard in the stomach.  
  
" 'S early," Remus muttered from his bed, hiding his bed beneath the covers. "And Monday. No school today for me."  
  
James rolled his eyes and carefully approached Remus's bed, making no noise until-  
  
WHAM. James smacked Remus over the head with Sirius's thrown pillow, shouting, "NOW! WE HAVE POTIONS IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!"  
  
"WHAT?" the other three boys went sailing out of bed and looked about anxiously. James laughed mischievously.  
  
"Only joking," he said. "We've got another hour, but I thought today we might actually eat breakfast."  
  
"Erg," Sirius grumbled, falling backwards onto the bed. James surveyed his friends and sighed. It was no use, no matter how many times he tried to wake them up, they were always late for Potions.  
  
"I don't like potions," Sirius commented from his bed, where he had drawn the covers over him again. "It makes me think of-" he trailed off. For a moment there was a bit of uncomfortable silence, a common thing in these past three months since Maggie was killed. Sirius looked upset, only just a little bit. Somehow he'd managed to get a grip after that night he and James had talked about Maggie, and he was slowly returning to normal.  
  
"Oh well," James said. "We're just reviewing for the N.E.W.T.s"  
  
"Again?" Remus asked, plopping back down on his own bed and yawning. Rubbing his eyes, he said, "They've played this out so much that I'm not even nervous about taking them anymore."  
  
The others nodded in agreement, though they all knew they were terrified, however much they hated to admit it.  
  
"Anyway, I've got a new Quidditch Today magazine, so you can count me out of that class today," James said, happy to finally have good reading material in Potions. The textbook was so boring that James had learned everything ahead of time just so he wouldn't ever have to open the book again.  
  
Peter, who'd been standing by his bed and sort of listening to all of this, suddenly snored loudly and fell right over onto the floor with a thud. He didn't wake up when he hit the ground.  
  
With an exchange of glances, the others burst out laughing.  
  
"Should we leave him?" asked Remus, very tempted to. Sirius and James looked at their friend.  
  
"Suits me. Care for breakfast?" James asked. Sirius nodded and rolled out of bed, and Remus jumped up, walking towards the door. James grinned and closed the door behind him on their way out; he could already tell today was going to be a good day.  
  
*******************  
  
"About time you all got up for Potions," Julia commented as the boys dragged themselves into the dining hall, still in their PJs.  
  
Lily laughed at them as they sat down, helping themselves to the plate of fruit in front of them. James leaned over and gave Lily a good- morning kiss on the cheek, and she grinned and returned the favor. Remus and Julia glanced at each other during this exchange, then, turning bright red, looked quickly away. Elisabeth's eyes darted back and forth between the two, not missing a thing. She was tempted to make them even more uncomfortable by teasing them, but she held her tongue.  
  
"Planning on changing before Potions?" Lily asked the boys as she spread some butter on her toast. The three boys looked at each other-  
  
"Nah." It was unanimous.  
  
"I'm so tired of review," Elisabeth commented. "I could probably recite the entire textbook in Potions, we've gone over it so many times."  
  
"Please don't, though," James said, shuddering at the thought of the horrid Potions book. They others laughed.  
  
"It's so nice out today!" Julia said, wistfully looking out the window. "I wish more than anything we could ditch classes and go out on the grounds."  
  
"Not smart around N.E.W.T.s time, though," Elisabeth said sadly. They all nodded in agreement.  
  
"We could sneak out to Hogsmeade for lunch," Sirius suggested, his eyes suddenly sparkling. The others looked at him.  
  
"Are you mad?" Elisabeth asked. "We'll get expelled!"  
  
"I know, who's stupid enough to get expelled six weeks before graduation?" Lily asked, more to herself than to the others. The idea was very appealing.  
  
"Five weeks," Remus corrected. "As James so thoughtfully informed us of this morning. But I agree, Sirius, it'd be a lot of fun."  
  
"What if we get caught?" Lily asked. Remus, Sirius, and James exchanged glances.  
  
"We won't if we go the right way." The girls looked at each other in wonder.  
  
"How?" Julia asked. The idea sounded such the best, if you asked her.  
  
"Oh, maybe take a less traveled route-" Remus said casually.  
  
"Like under the grounds-" Sirius finished before biting into an apple.  
  
The girls' eyes widened.  
  
"You know about a passageway to Hogsmeade?" squeaked Elisabeth.  
  
"Shh!" Sirius frowned at her. "Someone'll hear. Yes, we do, and no, we're not telling you where it is or how we found it. That is, not until you lot agree to go out to lunch with us today."  
  
The girls looked at each other, speaking seemingly telepathically, as girls do best. Finally, Lily nodded.  
  
"But if we get caught-" she warned them, drawing a finger across her neck.  
  
"We won't," James said, grinning at her. "And it'll give us all something to look forward to during Potions and Herbology."  
  
"Ugh, the greenhouses are going to be like an oven today," Julia moaned. The others nodded sadly.  
  
"See? We need the distraction to get our minds off of Herbology. Just think about Hogsmeade-"  
  
"All right," Lily silenced James by stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth. "We said we'd go!"  
  
Laughing, the six friends turned their conversation to other matters; though inwardly, each was anticipating the trip this afternoon.  
  
*******************************  
  
"Now, say you add Malangor tail to a concoction of Wolfsbane and Wormwood. What would you get?"  
  
Professor Whettle's eyes scanned the dungeon for a raised hand. Needless to say, no one was stupid enough to volunteer. In a moment, Whettle answered his own question and continued on with the lesson.  
  
James boredly turned the page in Quidditch Today. This issue wasn't nearly as interesting as the last three had been, and he was feeling quite drowsy. The article he was reading was about proper broom maintenance, and it was such obvious stuff that he could practically tell what the article would say next, word for word.  
  
Turning yet another page, James glanced around the room at his friends. Elisabeth was writing rapidly in her notebook, probably taking notes, though she'd never admit it. Remus was leaning on one hand, staring off into space. The space in Julia's direction, anyway. Julia and Lily were passing a note back and forth beneath the table, and next to James, Sirius was looking up to no good. In front of him was a tiny test tube filled with a green substance, and he seemed to be searching for something in his pocket to add to it. James really didn't want to know.  
  
Where was Peter? James turned another page in his magazine without looking, wondering where the fourth marauder was. He couldn't still be asleep, could he? James chuckled. Yes, he most certainly could.  
  
"James," Sirius nudged his friend in the side. "You got any Tajirmintil?"  
  
"Yeah, I keep a vile of it in my pocket," James whispered back sarcastically. "How come?"  
  
"No reason," Sirius said, his grin clearly suggesting otherwise. "I think Remus would look mighty fine as a bald man, don't you?"  
  
James glanced over at their mutual friend, who'd switched hands but was still staring in Julia's direction.  
  
"No, I can't say the look would suit him," James answered. "But maybe Peter."  
  
Sirius grinned thoughtfully. "Yes- yes, I think you're right old chap." Sirius grinned wickedly, then opened his bookbag in search of his missing ingredient.  
  
Rolling his eyes, James turned the page in his Quidditch magazine, catching Lily's eye as he looked in her direction. She smiled at him and tilted her head towards Sirius questioningly. James shook his head and grinned. Lily laughed silently and turned back to the note Julia had just placed in front of her. So much for being inconspicuous about things.  
  
James assumed a look quite like Remus's current one as he looked in Lily's direction another moment. With graduation coming up James had been thinking a lot more about proposing to her, though he still wasn't sure how to do it, or where or when. But he definitely knew he was going to.  
  
James looked straight ahead, thinking about how much Lily would like it if they took a walk under the stars, and then he proposed to her then-  
  
"Hey," Sirius nudged James again. "I think you've officially become a stalker now, the way you're staring at Lily."  
  
James laughed, earning a scowl from Professor Whettle.  
  
"No, I was just thinking," James said. He lowered his voice, which was pretty quiet already. "I'm thinking of proposing to her at the end of this year."  
  
Sirius placed a cork in the test tube and began shaking it, his eyes not even widening in surprise.  
  
"I figured," Sirius said. "I thought you'd have it all planned out by now, though. What're you thinking of doing?"  
  
"I dunno, something at night, maybe," James said thoughtfully. Sirius paused a moment.  
  
"What about a ring?"  
  
"I dunno," James said. "I thought I'd just buy one at a Muggle shop."  
  
"That's boring," Sirius said, then turned his attention back to the test tube, as it was now turning bright red.  
  
"Boring?" James looked startled. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, it's what most Muggles figure marriage will be like, right? You get engaged under the stars, probably on a beach, and the groom buys this diamond ring from some store in London-" Sirius stopped. "That's exactly what you were planning, isn't it?"  
  
"Um, no," James lied. His pulse quickened a bit. "So you think she wouldn't like that?"  
  
"I never said that," Sirius said, taking the cap off the test tube and pulling a small packet out from his robes. Opening it, he deposited three pinches of a brown , sugary substance into the tube. Fizzing, the potion suddenly turned bright orange. "I just think it's too standard, you know? When I thought about proposing to Maggie-" here his voice faltered- "I thought I'd make it something special. Something she'd never dream of me doing."  
  
"Ah," James said, looking down at his Quidditch magazine as a distraction. He was clearly very disappointed with his original plan now, but what could he do instead? And what about a ring.  
  
"I've got you nervous now, haven't I?" Sirius asked, looking apologetic for once. "Sorry."  
  
"Nah, it's all right," James said, flipping the page in his magazine. "I just wish I had a new idea of what to do. I need a sign or something."  
  
Sirius stared, then cracked a grin, then started laughing. Up front, Whettle stopped talking.  
  
"Mr. Black, kindly share with the class what's so funny, as it seems to be important enough for you to disturb our lesson with."  
  
"Sorry, professor, but if I said they'd probably kick me out of school for disrespecting staff." The class burst out laughed. Whettle turned various shades of red, then barked, "Detention, Black, stay after class." Sirius shrugged, and in a moment the classroom resumed its previous sleepy air.  
  
"So what's so funny?" James asked, bewildered. Sirius grinned, then said, "You want a sign?" James nodded. Sirius pointed at the desk in front of James, then put his focus on the test tube again, as it began its final stages, in which it turned purple.  
  
Looking at the magazine, James's eyes widened. How things like this happened, he would never know. It couldn't be coincidence, and Professor Esmerelda would probably say it was connected to the universe in some odd way, but no matter what the reason was, here was the answer.  
  
The ad read something like this:  
  
MERLIN JEWELERS: IT'S LIKE MAGIC!  
  
Have you got a stone stored up in Gringott's, an heirloom maybe? Not sure what to do with it? Let us help! Merlin Jewelers is pleased to announce a new line of rings, complete with anti-scratching, anti-theft charms and an instant adjuster spell, so there's no worrying about whether or not it'll fit. But best of all, we'll customize each ring with a stone you provide! No more worrying about what to do with that jewel, and won't it look better sparkling on yours or your lucky lady's finger than sitting in a vault in Diagon Alley?  
  
The bottom of the page held an address for owl mail, but James couldn't even finish reading the ad. He'd just remembered something he had at home, and this was too perfect.  
  
"Now all you need is a stone," Sirius said, testing his potion out on his arm. The hair disappeared instantly.  
  
"Oh, I think I've got that covered. I need to write mum a quick owl before we go to Hogsmeade, though, and ask her to send me something."  
  
Sirius looked at James curiously, but James was too excited to notice. It was perfect. Now all he needed was to find the right way to ask her, and he'd be set.  
  
******************************  
  
After meeting up with Peter in Herbology, who complained loudly about the Marauders not waking him up, they seventh year Gryffindors trooped quietly through the passageway to Hogsmeade at lunchtime. When they finally emerged into the bright sunshine, walking down the road to the Three Broomsticks, they laughed and joked together, feeling the excitement that only anticipation of graduation can bring.  
  
As James walked down the street with Lily, hand in hand, he grinned to himself, lost in thought. He might just have a way to ask Lily to marry him, and he knew just the night to do it, too. Forget what Sirius said about Muggle standards, this one wouldn't work if it wasn't night time. But there was no way that it was going to be by Muggle standards, not at all. James could guarantee that it would be a night Lily would never forget.  
  
*************************  
  
A/N: WOW sorry that took so long, I was stumbling over how to get that all out, but I finally did! Oh no, the next chapter is the last one!!! :( But James is gonna propose, and some other good things are going to happen within the group- I promise it'll be a nice and happy last chapter. So stick around, keep reading, and thank you SO MUCH !!!!! for all of the reviews I got on chapter 16. Luv, Cassi~ 


	18. Emeralds and Diamonds

CHAPTER 18- EMERALDS AND DIAMONDS  
  
Peter stared miserably into the lake, watching his reflection on the rippling water. There were only three days left until graduation, and his hair was still just a slight fuzz spreading over a small amount of his head. Ever since Sirius had spilled his drink on Peter's head, which had turned out to be a balding potion, he'd looked somewhat like a newborn rat with no fur.  
  
Peter threw a stone at the water. You'd think he should be happy; graduation was in three days, N.E.W.T.s were over (though the scores weren't back yet), and he was about to start out on his own, taking charge of his own life. But he wasn't. (Happy, that is.) He was absolutely miserable.  
  
Then again, who wouldn't be miserable if it was your fault one of your good friends died? Most of the time Peter felt pretty proud of himself, but it was times like this, when he was alone and unhappy, that made him feel vulnerable and therefore guilty. Which he definitely deserved.  
  
"Peter, staring at yourself won't make you any less ugly." Sirius's voice came from behind Peter, who scowled and turned to the group of 7th year Gryffindors approaching him.  
  
"Sirius," Julia scolded. Sirius laughed gleefully. He'd been so hyper and happy recently that it was really starting to get scary. And quite annoying, if you thought about it.  
  
Julia and Sirius were an interesting sight to see these days. Ever since Maggie's untimely death, the two friends had been acting like brother and sister. It was extremely reassuring to the others to know that their friends were so happy.  
  
"Anyone feel like sneaking into Hogsmede?" Sirius suggested. "I'm bored."  
  
"Nah," Remus said, sitting on the grass near Peter and looking out across the lake. "It's too nice out."  
  
Sirius stared blankly. "Huh?"  
  
"I mean, we should hang out here," Remus said, patting the grass next to him. "I like being around the castle, I'm gonna miss the place."  
  
"Are you MAD?" Sirius asked, looking shocked. "MISS it? I can't wait to get away! No more Filch, no more Whettle, no more detentions." His eyes adapted a dreamy look. "No more detentions."  
  
The others broke out into peals of laughter, settling themselves in front of the lake along with their friends. Out in the middle of the water the giant squid could just barely be seen scooting around below the surface.  
  
"Lily, you have your speech ready yet?" Elisabeth asked after a few moments of rare but peaceful silence.  
  
"Ugh, no," Lily groaned and covered her face with her hands in frustration. "I have no idea what to say! Everything ends up sounding so damn cheesy."  
  
"Want some help?" James offered. "I finished mine last night."  
  
"I suppose, if that wouldn't be a problem," Lily said, sighing and leaning against James. "I know what I want to say, I just can't seem to get it out right."  
  
"Sorry I asked," Elisabeth apologized. Lily shook her head, as if to say, "It's nothing."  
  
There were a few more moments of silence as everyone stared out at the lake, enjoying the serenity of everything.  
  
Julia, who was sitting next to Remus, bit her lip slightly, trying not to blush too much. Recently she and Remus had been pretty friendly with each other, and she was pretty sure no one else had noticed. Which, of course, made it all that much more exciting.  
  
Remus grinned to himself as Julia picked at the grass between them, as if she was trying to eliminate the space. It would have been fine with Remus if she'd just scooted over, but since they weren't really dating he wasn't quite sure how well it would go over. Maybe if he wasn't so nervous about it then it wouldn't have seemed like such a big deal, but right now it was. If only he'd just ask her out already!  
  
Lily was leaning against James, the anticipation of her future with James very different than Remus and Julia's anticipation of their dating. No, Lily was feeling sort of worried. Graduation was in three days, after all. Then she'd be going home, back to the muggle world, for at least another year the way she saw it. Until she got a chance to really find a job in the wizard world.  
  
But the worst of her worries was James. What was going to happen to them? He lived too far from her for frequent visits, and every time she'd tried to bring up the topic he'd gone strangely mute and then changed the subject. She didn't know what to think about it; she wanted to cry, to be angry with him, to throw up her hands and just say "screw it, whatever happens will happen," but she couldn't seem to come to a good conclusion. It'd been eating at her for days.  
  
James had a much different attitude about the situation, but of course Lily didn't know that. He had everything worked out perfectly, but now there was the matter of trying to get time to pass more quickly, which obviously meant that it went slower and slower the closer it got to graduation day. If only he had a time turner.  
  
Sirius was staring blankly out across the lake, thinking about his life. Graduation was in three days, and though he'd denied it earlier, he was going to miss Hogwarts. It was unbelievable how easy it was to close his eyes and have the memories flood back, almost like he was little again.  
  
With a great tug at his heart, Sirius noticed that every single memory that entered his mind had to do with Maggie: when they were third years and they'd first kissed behind the greenhouses, when they'd snuck out during fifth year to explore the forbidden forest (which, of course, Sirius knew quite well), and just earlier this year, just months ago, when they'd had a snowball fight out on the grounds.  
  
Not for the first time, it struck Sirius as odd that Maggie had been alive such a short time ago, but now she was just - not here. It made him want to cry to think about it, but of course he wouldn't cry. He'd get even, in true Sirius Black fashion. But that brought him to the same conclusion it always did; he'd first have to figure out who was responsible for her death.  
  
"God this year has been weird," Elisabeth voiced nearly everyone's opinion. She herself had been thinking about Remus's parents, Maggie's death, the way they'd suspected Maggie of being involved with Voldemort-  
  
"Amen to that," Julia said, turning to look at her friends. "Do realize how different it's going to be from now on, what with all that happened this year? And graduating, of course."  
  
Everyone stopped to think about it for a moment.  
  
"I'm going to have to find a place," Remus said, wondering over the same subject that had been pounding in his mind since his parents were killed.  
  
"I'm not going to have a sister in the next room when I go home," Julia said, picking at the grass.  
  
"I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do," Lily said, more to herself than the others.  
  
"Do, like what?" James looked down at the top of Lily's head.  
  
"A lot of things," Lily said. "But I guess we'll all just have to go one step at a time."  
  
"I'm going to figure out who killed Maggie."  
  
Whatever they'd all been thinking before had just completely left their mind as they all stared at Sirius. Sure, they'd all thought once or twice that Sirius wouldn't just let the love of his life die and let that be that, but this- no one thought he'd do something that extreme-  
  
"How?" Julia asked softly, Sirius's statement striking her hardest of all. Remus looked at her sadly and put an arm around her comfortingly. Surprisingly, she barely noticed.  
  
"I'm not sure. But I'm going to," Sirius looked very resolute.  
  
For a few moments no one spoke, not because they had nothing to say but because they didn't know how to say it.  
  
"Sirius, it'll take a lot of work," James finally opted to be the one to speak.  
  
"I know," Sirius said, gazing out across the lake. "But I've been thinking. You know how earlier this year you were talking about a sort of anti-Voldemort organization?"  
  
"Yeah," James said, not quite sure where Sirius was going with this.  
  
"Well I figure that I could use leads from that to help with my search. And if I end up never finding out who was personally responsible, I know that I'll at least be helping in the fight against Voldemort."  
  
James thought about it for a bit. He hadn't thought of his group - the Order of the Phoenix, he'd decided to call it a few months ago - in a long time. But now that graduation was here, James would need something to put his mind to. And if it would help out his friend in the process-  
  
"All right," James said. "Then you've got to help me figure out how to set this group up."  
  
Sirius nodded shortly, thankful that no one was fighting him on this one and telling him how utterly ridiculous it was.  
  
"I'd be happy to help," Lily offered, a light of hope dawning on her. Here was her chance to stay with James in the wizard world. If they really got this going then she wouldn't have to go home or find work, which she didn't know what to do in the first place. This would be so much better, and helping so many people-  
  
"Me too," Julia and Remus chimed together, smiling slightly at their speaking in unison. More than anyone, except maybe Sirius, the two of them wanted to be sure they helped to get even with Voldemort.  
  
The others looked expectantly at Elisabeth and Peter, but neither of them said anything.  
  
"I'm scared to," Elisabeth stated flatly. "We've seen what can happen if you get involved with Voldemort; it's not pretty. I don't want to risk it."  
  
Peter nodded once, and the others assumed that he meant he had the same opinion as Maggie. Need it be said that he wasn't? Really, it was the perfect way for him to slip out of this momentary danger without suspicion.  
  
"Suit yourself," Sirius said, suddenly extremely frustrated with his two friends. Of course it was dangerous, but this dark wizard had killed Remus's parents and Sirius's future wife. From his point of view there was no such thing worse than being selfish enough not to devote your life to payback and keeping the same tragedy from happening to a million others.  
  
The tension thickened in the moments of silence that followed, everyone eyeing Sirius carefully, fully aware that saying the wrong thing in defense of Elisabeth and Peter would set him off. In fact, just about anything they said right now probably would, except:  
  
"So let's get started right after graduation then," James said. "I'll speak with Dumbledore the day afterwards, in person, to see what he thinks would be the best way of going about this."  
  
And that was that. For now.  
  
************************************  
  
The morning two days before graduation dawned bright and slightly chilly, perfect for a nice walk on the grounds. James escorted Lily outside just after breakfast, keeping in mind that they'd have to return at noon for their N.E.W.T. scores.  
  
The lake was considerably wavy today, the giant squid churning the water with his tentacles as he raged around a few mermaids who'd made the mistake of poking him with sharp shells during the night. Professor Hersolie, the Care of Magical Creatures instructor, was in a rather dinky looking boat miles from shore, trying to calm the squid.  
  
None of this chaos could be observed from the Quidditch field, though, which was exactly where Lily and James had decided to wander to this morning.  
  
As they reached the middle of the grassy expanse and sat in the warm sunshine, Lily chattered happily about graduating and her favourite memories of Hogwarts. James smiled to himself as she talked, attempting to keep himself from spilling any secrets about what he'd been planning. It was taking a lot of work; the way her eyes were dancing today was incredibly hard to resist.  
  
"What?" Lily asked after a moment, when she noticed James had been staring at her with a silly smile on his face for more than a few minutes.  
  
"Nothing," James said, still smiling. Lily raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?" he asked. Lily blushed.  
  
"Yes," she said. "But I still like hearing it." James laughed.  
  
"I've loved them since we were little." He paused, resisting the temptation to propose right now. Instead he said, "Do you remember that last day we were together?"  
  
"Of course," Lily laughed. "When we put worms in Petunia's bed."  
  
"Yeah. Do you remember what we found in the dirt that day?"  
  
Lily thought a moment, then her eyes widened, "The emerald! I lost that a long time ago, though," she admitted sadly. James used all of his self control to stop from smiling mischievously as she continued, "I cried for days when I realized it was gone."  
  
"The stone reminded me of your eyes," James finished his point, barely managing to stop himself from telling her that she needn't have cried, that he had the stone all along.  
  
Lily smiled.  
  
"You're being really mushy today, what gives?" Lily asked, her eyes laughing at James.  
  
"Nothing really," James said. "Just happy to be with you. Happy about graduation."  
  
"I find that hard to believe, James Potter," Lily said. "You're up to something."  
  
"Maybe," he said. "And maybe I'm not."  
  
Lily was still curious but decided to say nothing more about it, after all, she didn't want to push her luck. Instead she sat down directly in the middle of the field and asked, "Are you going to miss Quidditch?"  
  
"Like hell," James said, without hesitating. One thing he hated most about leaving Hogwarts was the fact that he was now an adult and would have little time to play Quidditch. Sad, considering he had a gift. But then again, he thought, he could always teach his and Lily's kids to play for when they got into Hogwarts. If Lily said yes.  
  
"I'll miss watching you play, too," Lily said. James grinned.  
  
"There's always games to watch on T.V., now that you'll live in the wizard world."  
  
"Oh, yeah- but that's a little different," Lily said. "I love Quidditch, but it's a bit more interesting when you know someone on the team."  
  
"I guess I can see that," James said, smiling to himself. There was nothing he loved more than Lily cheering for him in the stands- well, okay, he loved other things a bit more, but that was a nice thing to have. It made him feel loved.  
  
For a few minutes they sat without talking, listening to the waves hit the shore of the lake as the squid squirmed, and thinking about the day after tomorrow.  
  
"James?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You know I love you, right?"  
  
"Of course," James hugged Lily to him, breathing in the smell of her shampoo. What it was about that he, nor any other guy, would ever know, but girls' hair always smelled good.  
  
"And you know that after- after graduation, I'll still want to be with you, right?"  
  
James took Lily's chin in one hand and gently tilted it up, so she was looking at him.  
  
"You don't have to worry about that, Lil," he said, and, afraid he may slip something, he kissed her softly.  
  
"Okay," Lily said when they broke apart, still not one hundred percent comfortable with the topic, but at least now she could tell herself it would all be okay.  
  
"Come on," James said, checking his watch. "We better head back up to the castle and get in line for the N.E.W.T. scores. May as well know if we're graduating as early as possible, right?"  
  
Lily laughed, and the two of them headed slowly back up to the castle. Neither was concerned about passing, so why hurry?  
  
********************** "We graduate tomorrow!" was Julia's gleeful greeting to Remus as he stumbled into the great hall for breakfast.  
  
Remus grunted and reached for the orange juice, desperate to wake up a bit despite the fact that it was already 11:30. He was surprised to still find breakfast food on the tables.  
  
Julia laughed as Remus gulped down some juice. She'd gotten there a few minutes before, hoping he was there, and just as she was about to be really disappointed she'd noticed him coming down the stairs.  
  
"Excited?" she asked.  
  
"Mmhmm," Remus felt his arms and legs tingling. He glanced at the juice oddly.  
  
"It's spelled," Julia said, laughing. "To get everyone awake to practice for graduation this afternoon."  
  
"Ah," Remus said, thankful to know that he wasn't feeling odd because of something Sirius may have done to him.  
  
Julia smiled at Remus as he reached slowly for the toast.  
  
"You all right?" she asked.  
  
"Just really tired," Remus assured her, smiling. "I stayed up late last night reading my book."  
  
"And Sirius didn't have a heart attack?"  
  
"No, I spelled his eyes so he'd think the lights were out," Remus said. "Peter was already asleep, and James didn't get in until after I'd turned the light out."  
  
"0oh," Julia wiggled her eyebrows. "Wonder where he was?"  
  
"Lily," Remus said simply. The two of their eyes met, and with a quick blush they both looked down at their food.  
  
"I can't wait until tomorrow, it's going to be such the best," Julia said. "Now that we all know we'll still see each other, I'm glad it's graduation."  
  
"Yeah, but I think I might actually miss this place," Remus looked up at the enchanted ceiling.  
  
"Mmhmm," Julia said, though she was looking at Remus. In a moment he glanced at her, and their eyes met again. This time neither of them looked away.  
  
"You've really helped me out with the whole Maggie thing," Julia said seriously. "Thanks."  
  
"Thanks for yours, too," Remus said. Then he added, "and I was happy to help. You mean a lot to me."  
  
Julia smiled. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah," Remus looked down at his plate, embarrassed. He couldn't believe how cheesy that had sounded, yet he meant it with all his heart.  
  
When he looked up again, Julia was still gazing at him.  
  
"You mean a lot to me, too," she said softly. "I don't know what I would have done without you."  
  
Remus smiled. After months of flirting and friendship, hugs and support for each other, he and Julia had now reached the point of obvious conclusion. Now all Remus had to do was ask.  
  
"Well then," he said, "I guess we'll just have to make sure you and I are always there for each other."  
  
Julia smiled happily. "And how do you think we should do that?"  
  
"Well," Remus said, raising his eyebrows at her, "you could go out with me."  
  
"Are you asking me, or suggesting it?" Julia teased him.  
  
"Asking," Remus grinned. Then he added, "Please?"  
  
"Sure," Julia said, trying to sound calm, but you could tell by her smile and eyes that she was happier than she'd been in a really, really long time.  
  
Just then the food in front of them disappeared, and lunch materialized in breakfast's place. As the doors of the great hall opened to reveal Sirius and James entering, pushing each other and joking, Remus slipped a hand under the table and found Julia's, giving it a squeeze. She smiled at him; life was starting to look better from both of their views.  
  
****************************  
  
Finally, the long-awaited morning came. Lily woke up bright and early, with the first crow of the roosters in Hagrid's yard, and slipped into the shower before Elisabeth and Julia woke up. When she re-entered the room they were both sitting up, awake and happily chatting. Julia had told them yesterday at graduation rehearsal that she and Remus were boyfriend and girlfriend, and since then the three girls had been in happy spirits.  
  
"Happy Graduation!" Lily said as she emerged from the bathroom.  
  
"You too!" Julia and Elisabeth answered.  
  
"God, I can't believe we're actually leaving Hogwarts," Elisabeth said. "It's so weird to think that we won't be coming back next year."  
  
"I know," Lily said, then after a moment of sadness, she pushed the thoughts out of her mind.  
  
"Got your speech all ready?" Julia asked, making for the bathroom so she could get what was left of the hot shower water.  
  
"Yup," Lily said, her stomach giving a little jump. "All set."  
  
"Great," Elisabeth said. "By nightfall we'll be free!"  
  
"I know!" Lily smiled. She had a good feeling about today.  
  
**************  
  
"I'm nervous!" Lily whispered to her friends as they stood in the entrance hall, preparing to head into the Great Hall for - finally - graduation.  
  
"You'll do fine!" Julia reassured her. Remus nodded as he slipped an arm around Julia.  
  
"We've got it down, Lil," James said, hugging his girlfriend tightly. He was more nervous than any of them, because none of them were proposing just after the ceremony was over.  
  
"All right," McGonagall stood before the doors, looking quite misty- eyed. "We're ready."  
  
As the 7th years of Hogwarts filed through the great hall, the evening sunlight twinkling through the windows and down from the enchanted ceiling. The teacher's platform had been cleared of its usual table, and in its place there was a podium and a banner that said, "Congrats, Graduates!"  
  
Filling the rest of the hall in place of the house tables were hundreds of folding chairs, filled with various witch and muggle parents and relatives on one side, and the rest of the Hogwarts students on the other.  
  
At the podium was Dumbledore, smiling proudly at the 7th years as they seated themselves in the first ten rows of the student section, their blue robes standing out against the rest of the schools' black ones. In a moment everyone was sitting, and Dumbledore began his introduction.  
  
"Welcome, one and all, to the graduation ceremonies of Hogwarts. I trust you all know this already, but I feel it necessary to emphasize what a fine job this year has done academically."  
  
He paused as the parents all clapped enthusiastically for their children.  
  
"I do not wish to delay their graduation any longer, for I'm sure they are all eager to start out into the wizard world alone. But first we will hear from the head boy and girl, James Potter and Lily Evans."  
  
Lily and James grinned, blushing slightly as the room filled with applause, as they stood and made their way to the stage. After much debate over how to arrange the speeches, they'd decided just this morning to combine theirs together, to save time and take the pressure off the other.  
  
They stood together behind the podium, smiling at the crowd gathered there and at each other, happy to be finally graduating at last. The audience settled down and the last claps died off, leaving the room in complete silence.  
  
"Hogwarts," James began. "There is not a finer school of witchcraft or wizardry in all the world. It has earned its reputation over many long years, from a combination of suffering teachers and suffering students."  
  
He stopped as the parents laughed and the students clapped in agreement.  
  
"However true this may be, I'm surprised to say that I'm sad to leave Hogwarts. A lot of things have happened to me here over the last seven years; it's been my home, a place of social gathering, the subject to my friends and my mischief."  
  
The crowd chuckled, and Sirius cat-called from the second row, encouraging more laughter.  
  
"But what I think I'll truly miss most about Hogwarts is what it taught me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't learn a thing in any of my classes. Instead, I've learned what it means to be a good person. I've learned how to support my friends and even my enemies at times; I've learned good moral conduct as a person and as a wizard. I will be proud to tell my future employers that I graduated from Hogwarts."  
  
There was applause as he nodded his head once, sort of bowing out to signal Lily's speech.  
  
"A lot of things have happened to me, to my friends, over the years here at Hogwarts. We've all experienced what it means to have to work for what you want, we all know what it's like to do poorly or achieve great success. Through all of my years here, I assumed I would learn how to excel at witchcraft. But, as James so nicely put it, I've learned so much more.  
  
"Recently a good friend of mine, Maggie Beaumont, whom I've shared a dorm room with for seven years, passed away. I learned then what else Hogwarts has shown me. It's taught me to construct close friendships, it's showed me how to grieve for those lost and move on. Most importantly, I've learned how to support others in their time of need."  
  
Here Lily looked at Julia, whose eyes were glistening. She smiled at Lily, knowing exactly how her friend felt.  
  
"After so many years at this great school, it's going to be hard to just pick up and leave," James finished the speech. "But no matter where any of us end up, we will take with us the values that we learned, and I suppose some academic knowledge, and pass it on to other people. And I have a feeling that years from now, when my children's children are walking across this stage to receive their diploma, they will know exactly what I'm talking about, as I'm sure many of you graduates do."  
  
A lot of heads nodded in the crowd of parents, who were all thinking fondly of their own years here.  
  
"That said, thank you to the staff and students of Hogwarts, for teaching us what we know today."  
  
******************************  
  
The stars twinkled brightly above James and Lily as they walked, like glitter thrown across a black sea. The grounds looked sleepy and peaceful in the silvery moonlight and warm summer air that blew softly around the castle.  
  
Lily sighed. She was pleased at how well graduation had gone today, though she was sad everything was over. Now that it was done with, she had to look ahead to the future; to leaving on the train tomorrow, to returning home to her parents, to helping start the Order of the Phoenix.  
  
"You look sad," James commented as he glanced at Lily. She shook her head, saying, "Only thinking about what life will be like without Hogwarts."  
  
"It'll be fun," James said, hugging her with the arm that was resting around her shoulders. His other hand was in his robe pocket, clutching a small velvet box tightly. "It'll be an adventure."  
  
Lily snorted, and they both laughed.  
  
As they skimmed the edge of the forbidden forest, Lily asked, "Where are we going, anyway?"  
  
"I dunno, I thought we'd walk somewhere different for a change," James lied. "Getting us used to difference, I guess."  
  
Lily grinned. "You are so weird."  
  
"Yes, but you love me, so I don't care," James said, smiling at Lily. He very carefully nudged her a bit to the right, making sure they followed the curve that the trees were taking.  
  
"Where does this lead?" Lily wondered out loud as they came upon a small path into the trees.  
  
"Shall we follow it?" James asked, and without waiting for an answer, he lead Lily along the dirt trail.  
  
Just feet away they reached a clearing, and Lily gasped, "James!"  
  
The small clearing was surrounded by rather spaced out trees, and a small, small creek was running along the side of it. All around the circular clearing there were lilies, obviously planted there but still looking perfectly natural in the light of the moon that shown above them.  
  
But most breathtaking and amazing of all were the seemingly hundreds of little glowing fairies that were darting in and out of the trees and flowers, smiling and dancing about in the moonlight. Their hair glittered and shimmered like the moon itself, and the yellowish glow coming from their wings was like a million fireflies fluttering about.  
  
Lily walked a little ways out into the clearing, awestruck and wonderfully delighted at the same time. James grinned slightly to himself, following softly just a few steps behind her as she stared in amazement.  
  
Finally, Lily turned around to face James, not sure how to express what she wanted to. It was clear James had planned this, she could tell by the lilies that surrounded them. But before she could even attempt to show her amazement, her happiness, James took her hand and, with a great, deep breath, got down on one knee.  
  
Lily breathed in quickly, feeling like she was about to cry, or die of happiness.  
  
"Lily," James said softly, looking into her emerald eyes as they sparkled in the light of the fairies. "Ever since we were little kids I've known you were a wonderful, beautiful girl. And with graduation and all the preparations for it, it occurred to me that there was a possibility, however small, that I would never see you again. So I want to make sure that never happens, because I love you with all of my heart. I don't know how I'd go on without you."  
  
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the dark green velvet box. His heart fluttering, his stomach feeling numb, he opened the box, revealing a small golden ring with two diamonds on either side of a beautiful, glimmering emerald. James looked up into Lily's eyes, which were glistening with held back tears of happiness. She recognized the stone right away, James could tell by the way the look in her eyes changed when she saw it.  
  
"Lil," he said, his voice faltering as he smiled through his nerves. If she didn't say yes- God, he didn't know what he would do.  
  
"Will you marry me?"  
  
Lily looked down at the boy, the man, she'd loved for nearly twelve years. Never in that time, though, would she ever have imagined that their friendship would lead to this. But that didn't stop her from being one hundred percent sure of her answer, with not a doubt in her mind.  
  
"Yes," she said, laughing at herself as she felt the tears slide down her cheek. James slipped the ringer carefully on her finger- it fit perfectly.  
  
Then Lily couldn't stand it anymore, she helped James up and hugged him as close to her as she could, just as he did the same, Lily's tears leaving small wet spots on James's robes. In a moment they let go slightly and leaned into a kiss; a long, sweet one, that promised many happy years ahead of them. Finally, finally, James Potter and Lily Evans had really gotten together. And neither would regret it for a second in the rest of their lives.  
  
***************************  
  
A/N: Well, that's all! I think I might cry, too, cuz my fic is finally over!!!!! ;-( But I wont! Instead I'll just say thank you so, so much for all of the reviews- I hadn't even hoped for half of the amount I've gotten!!! I hope you liked the chapter, the whole story, actually, and that you'll read the sequel fic, probably titled, "Emeralds and Diamonds." Thanks again for all of the reading and reviewing!!!! I'll miss you! ;-)  
  
Luv, Cassi~ 


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